{"Tis the Season" and 6 years}

(FYI... we have decided to make our blog private, so if you want to continue reading our blog then leave us your email address or mail your email address to us at ashspassion@hotmail.com.)

For being sick. It has already started. We weren't allowed in our house this whole last week...Monday through Friday. We were getting new windows put in the house b/c the old one's contained lead. So, the whole week we were in a Hotel. We enjoyed it b/c we had a pool to swim in everyday and we had a WONDERFUL breakfast every morning. I didn't have to feel bad for sitting around in the hotel room doing NOTHING. The baby got really congested about a day after we got into the hotel and Tanner had just gotten over a fever. I got the flu while we were in the hotel but it didn't last long. It started in the evening and lasted about 24 hours. It was a fever, sore throat and aches. Then i noticed Gavin and Tanner started getting congested. Now, as of today, they are coughing alot and just sound congested. We have already had to start his albuterol treatments for the first time this season. Hopefully it doesn't turn into something serious b/c about ONLY 30 minutes after his treatment he sounded like he was struggling to breath again. So, we have to try a few things and if it worsens at all then we have to go into i guess the pediatric ER....BUT hopefully when he wakes in the morning he will be better! :) Crossing fingers! I have a sore throat still and am getting a cough. Lucky for shane, he never gets anything!

The stay at the hotel was not an enjoyable one in the night. We were waking up all through the night. The baby didn't sleep good b/c he is congested so he was waking up a few times in the night. Tanner kept waking up in the night yelling for Gavin. "Gavin where are you?!?!?" We didn't get much sleep. We were so glad to be back in our house and our bed! We slept good too! All of us did!

Our new windows and doors look fabulous! I love em! It looks updated and just so good! :) When we moved back into our house yesterday we noticed a package! It was something i have been waiting for for awhile! We turned our 2007 blog into a book. It looks fabulous!!! I can't wait to do 2008 and 2009!! I don't even want to think about how much it will be though! It will be thick.
:)
I put out my christmas decor today. I couldn't resist! Minus the Christmas tree. That will come after thanksgiving. It was weird though. I put it out and turned on some Christmas music, but i had my windows open....weird! It seems like it should be COLD when listening to Christmas music, but i loved it anyway. The weather is so dang nice. It worries me a little for when January comes around...thinking we might get dumped on with lots of snow! We will see.

I came to realize something over the past 1-2 weeks. I miss my longer hair. I am now going to grow it back. Yup. I won't grow it as long as it was before....it was REALLY long. But it will be past my shoulders. I have loved my new hair style, but it seems like i have to trim it every 2 months in order for it to look good. So, the growing out process right now is not going to be a pretty one. This type of haircut just doesn't look good when it grows out! So, i am excited to have long hair again and shane is excited for me to have long hair again too. :)

Shane and i have our 6 year anniversary tomorrow! November 15. We probably won't do anything. At least right now. Shane planned something for us a little later that i will tell you about after we do it. ;) I am excited!
Six years! I can't believe it! Time is flying by! I get so sentimental anytime i think about what we have done, what we have been through, what we have accomplished and where we are going with our lives. It is amazing. I couldn't have picked a better man to enjoy the journey with. He keeps me going, he makes me want to be better, he challenges me, and he lifts me up when i am down, and he keeps life spontaneous and exciting. Sure, we have our moments of difficulty with one another....who doesn't?! Seriously. But what matters is how we make it through those difficulties together and become better from it, together. Together, we have grown so much from the first day we met. We have plenty more growing to do. I am excited i have him to do it with.
If you don't know our story.... i met him at a basketball game. Funny b/c that is his second love. I tried playing basketball in middle school, but our team lost every game. We stunk. Anyway, I was there watching a friend coach her basketball team and shane was there to watch another girl of interest play IN the game. I was there alone and He came up to me. I ended up telling him where i lived. Never thought he would actually stop by, but he did. Then I also ran into him at a subway, which might have sparked in him a reminder to call me to ask me on a date. :) Before i knew it we had been together everyday for a week. As soon as i realized that i took a step back b/c i thought it was going too fast. I mean, i was there waiting for my RM to arrive in like 3 weeks. YUP. My rm and i were meeting up at BYU to get the courting process going. I know! This wasn't the plan. I was there to have fun and was going to marry my RM. We had been talking for 8 months already. We had talked about marriage even. Soooo, this definitely wasn't in the plan! I didn't know what to do. I was just there to have fun. So, I stopped calling Shane for 2 days. I needed time to think and to take a breather and think about what was going on. He didn't like that and still gives me a hard time about it. After those two days of not returning his calls he came over to confront me. :) hahaha. ANYWAY, from there we dated for three months and then got married! It was quick! I ALWAYS told myself i would know a guy for all 4 seasons before i married him, and i thought girls who married guys quick were absolutely NUTS. Well, he turned me into a nut i guess. B/C that was freakin quick! I still wouldn't recommend it to ANYONE to get married that quick...it isn't smart. Luckily, i was at a time in my life where i felt i was in tune to the spirit more than i had ever previously been. And luckily i picked good b/c you really can't know a person and who they really are THAT quick! :) Really, i am so lucky. I got married at age 22. At BYU-I when guys found out i was 22 and not married they were SHOCKED. And some called me "old". hahaha. Seriously?. Anway, that is a different story. We met each other at the end of July, had our first date in August and married in November. We had our original date set for dec. 27th. Shane came to me practically begging me to change the date to Nov. 15th b/c he couldn't wait that long. hahaha. ;) I was in shock. Seriously. I was thinking, "we already made our invitations...we are already getting married quickly, but now you want me to do it even quicker?!?!" Who are you?!?! hahha. You know i am kidding hun. So, we changed it and had to make a separate piece of paper to slip into the invite that we changed our wedding date! haha. I love our story. :) It's the best. AND before he even proposed to me i had already set the temple date for our wedding....yeah, i had called and set it. :) hahaha. i know. I knew he was going to propose as soon as he got my ring, which was soon, but i didn't know exactly when and i didn't want the day we wanted to get married to be booked up....so i called and set the time and date. I told him afterwards what i had done. :) We got married in the SLC temple...where i always wanted to be married b/c that is where my mom and dad got married. My mom for many many many years gave me the nickname 'Goat'....i don't know why so don't ask why. Seriously. One day she just called me that. So, our wedding day i meet our Sealer and find out his name is Brother Goats. How hilarious is that?!?! Also, i want to Jenks highschool and now that is my last name! :) So funny huh?! The wedding day was perfect and that night in our beautiful hotel room..... i got food poisoning. Let's just say that our wedding night was NOTHING like i had planned in my head! But what really has gone the way i had planned for it to go?!?! :) Despite that everything has turned out wonderfully. That is the way i tell my story of it all....shane usually has a different story. :) I love you Shane. Happy 6th Anniversary.

{Texas, here we come}

We got a call yesterday from the Air Force telling us that we have been accepted into the AEGD one year residency and we are being stationed at Wichita Falls, TX. It wasn't our first choice. It was like # 5 or 6 on our list, but we will take it. :) So, this May we start our adventure. I cannot wait! In the 2000 census it showed a population of 105,000.

Here are a few things we are not far from...
1. 4 hours from where i grew up(Tulsa)
2. 2 hour drive to Dallas.
3. About an hour and a half from Shane's good friend who he grew up with in Idaho.
4. 7 hour drive from my best friend, rather than about a 20 hour drive.
5. 7 hour drive from my Aunt and Uncle and cousins.
6. 6 hour drive from the beach.
7. 15 minutes from the OK border!
8. 2 hour drive from OKC or Dallas temple.
9. 2 hour drive from Six Flags.
10. 5 1/2 hours from Sea World.
11. 5 1/2 hour drive to the beach.
12. 2 hour drive to the World Aquarium
13. I could go on and on, but i won't.

Other things to enjoy...
1. SUN and hardly any snow! Shane's buddy says it snows there only a couple times a year. The average temperature in the winter is about 40 from what i read. The sun shines a lot more than it does here! I get all 4 seasons, but with a milder winter and more SUN! yay! I know, it gets really hot in July and August, but its nothing new to me. Oklahoma had some pretty hot summer's. That means lots of swimming.
2. Thunderstorms! If you know me you know i love a good thunderstorm. Every spring and summer i always miss the OK storms i experienced all growing up. Well, now i get to enjoy them for at least a year while we are there. We are in tornado alley, big time, so let's hope a tornado doesn't go through while we are there.
3. Rodeo's. I love rodeo's. It's been awhile since i have been to one, but i can't wait.
4.I have a lot of friends in Texas...college friend, highschool friends, elementary friends...all of whom i haven't seen since those days. And Shane's buddy is there too.
5. Lots of outdoor swimming. If you live in the south you know there are plenty of pools to be found, so we will be swimming a lot.
6. Lots of outdoor BBQing! Ever since i had Tanner BBQ chicken and grilled veggies are my new favorite food. I could eat it everyday all day. I love perfecting my chicken over the grill. I would love to get those wood chips that you put at the bottom of the BBQ'er to smoke the chicken to make it taste even better! Aaaahhhh... lots and lots of bbq dinners. Okay, i bbq'd a lot this summer, but with the weather there i can do it more.

The unfortunate thing is that we will only be there a year. Are we going to be able to do all these things...haha...i wish. I think Shane will be a lot more busy than he is now. He won't get long Holiday breaks anymore either, unfortunately. That is the nice thing about school...they give you time on Holidays. But when you actually start working it isn't like that anymore.

If we could move to a new place every 3-4 years i would love it. I love experiencing new places and doing new things. I don't know what i am going to do when we actually have to settle down somewhere. We will just have to travel A LOT.

Anyway, I am excited to be back in my homeland, where southern accents are everywhere and the good ole southern country feel is present. I love it. We are really excited and can't wait. Can you tell?! :)

p.s. I probably won't be posting again for another 1 1/2 weeks to 2 weeks. LOTS goin on.

{Halloween, Fall, baby Jaydon, Learning new things}

This is what we have been up to in the past week...

Raking the leaves and playing in them. That tree with the yellow leaves is on that is in our neighbors yard, but part way in ours, so we get to enjoy the beauty of the bright yellow leaves everytime we walk out our back door. I love that tree. We pile all of our raked leaves next to the curb and the city comes by and sucks them up in some machine. It is nice. :) The boys look really happy to be having mommy take this picture, don't they?! :) haha.

After we raked all the leaves we came inside and had some yummy hot chocolate.
Here are the boys carving their pumpkins a few days before halloween and we also made caramel apples, which is a fall tradition.

Here are our boys on Halloween. Tanner has been waiting for a WHOLE MONTH to finally get to wear his costume, as you all know from one of my posts a month ago. He was the coolest and cutest Buzz-lightyear and everyone that saw him had to say something about how cute he was, which was A LOT. :) I had to agree with them. I wanted to eat him up all night long! Gavin was sooooo cool in his Optimus Prime. He ran into another Optimus, he also saw Bumblebee and Megatron!!! People would see him and start singing the Transformers song or they would say, "Oh, that is my favorite movie!!" He was proud. Little Jaydon was a giraffe. Gavin wore this when he was 10 months old and it was a tight squeeze. It's a size 12-18 month costume. Jaydon fit perfect into it. Anymore growing and he wouldn't have fit in it so well. Here are their pumpkins all lit up outside. I wore my sisters Kitty Ears, tail, and bow around my neck. :) It was a fun fun night. There is a certain street we go trick or treating on that is pretty hoppin every year. It was fun. We also started a little funny family tradition....We had a trial-run Turkey dinner on Halloween night. I made a little Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and rolls. We ate that before we went trick or treating and we listened to scary sounds while we ate. It sounds funny, but it was kind of fun for us and it got us EXCITED for Thanksgiving Day!!! :) And Auntie Holly was with us the whole time which made it even more special. :)

And here is baby Jaydon. He is 5 months old now. Isn't he the cutest?!?! He sleeps pretty good through the night, but he is in a habit of waking up at about 4:30 in the morning. Anyone have any advice on what i can do so that he will stop waking up and just sleep 12-13 hours straight?!?! I know, i could let him cry it out, but he is different than my others. He screams hysterically and acts like he is dying. I just can't handle letting him do that. I have tried once and he will go on and on. The longest i let him cry for was about 2 hours and he won't stop. Any other ideas?

And here is daddy teaching Gavin to ride his bike without the little wheels on the back. We are going to go to the tennis court later today to teach him b/c we don't have enough room here at our house. If we were at the tennis court i think he would get the hang of it a lot faster. By the way, i learned how to ride my bike on a tennis court...remember dad? So, it will be fun doing the same thing with Gavin. :)

The day after Halloween i took all the Halloween stuff down, cleaned my house, and put up Thanksgiving and a few Christmas decorations. I am going to hold off on listening to Christmas music until Thanksgiving. It will be hard, but i need to wait.

{Transformers, circus, and Patterson Farm}

Yes, i know....i am done with blogging. SORT OF. I will only be posting like 2-3 times a month. That is a BIG cut back from my usual. I thought i better keep family and distant friends updated still about what we are up to. :) So, when i do post it will all be random with all kinds of stuff on one post. :)

This is what we have been up to before and after my surgery...

There is a man here in Cleveland who built these out of wood. They are just about as tall as his house. The boys LOVED it! This street had quite a few houses that were decorated really scary for halloween! It was cool.

Of course we went to Patterson Farm. They have the BEST apple fritters i have ever eaten. We got a few other donuts too. In fact, all their donuts are the best i have eaten. Here are my boys in the bottom picture eating their donuts. Plus, we get to enjoy the beautiful cleveland colors of fall. Love it.

We also went to the circus. It was fun. That is all i have to say about that. :) Let me just say, the cotton candy.....$10!!!! yeah.

My new read....

My friend posted on her blog that she had read a book called "The Hunger Games" and she liked it better than Twilight!!! woah! So, i went out and bought it. I read it in 2 days. It was quite a page turner. It was very interesting. I have to say, i still like Twilight better, but it is second on my list of favorites. It would make for one crazy movie if it ever was made into one, but the book is just great. Plus, it makes you think... more than you have to think in Twilight. You should read it. If you want to borrow it then email me or call me. I am going to be reading the second one here shortly. :)

I made....

A lot of Christmas Decorations at Fabulous Friday. I made just about everything that they had. I figured i better make them b/c they are cheap and it is the only time out of the year where i actually get any projects done! I won't ever go out and buy stuff and think of anything creative on my own.

How the boys are doing...

Well, the day Sza Sza leaves is the day our boys get sick. Tanner and the baby have pretty rough coughs right now. I am taking the baby in today to get checked b/c his cough just doesn't sound right. Jaydon is wearing 9 month old clothes. He isn't even 5 months yet. He is so big. He is so fun too. We love him so much. Tanner is in his terrible three's. He likes to hit his big brother, but loves him at the same time. I will just leave it at that. Gavin is big brother. He likes to boss tanner around and tell him what he is and is not allowed to do. That can be a good and bad thing.

Shane...

Is busy with school. We can't believe he is so close to being done. We will HOPEFULLY find out where the air force is sending us, before christmas rolls around.

We are all...

Doing pretty good. Can't wait for Thanksgiving when Aunt Ashley and Uncle Ryan and Baby Ethan come to our house. Can't wait for Christmas at Sza Sza and Papa's house. Can't wait to decorate my house for Christmas. :) Can't wait until i can start exercising again.

{MIA}

I haven't posted in awhile because i have been in the hospital. My mom is here helping to take care of me and the boys while i recover. I was in the hospital for 5 days. Sure, it may sound bad to some of you, but it was a nice break....even though i was in pain, i didn't have any responsibilities. Momhood is hard. What can i say. Anyway, i was in a lot of pain, went to the hospital and stayed in the emergency room for about 12 hours before they admitted me into the hospital. When i had my appendix taken out 2 years ago they stapled my appendix....i don't understand it, but all i know is that i had staples in there from the surgery, which is normal. Somehow the staples came loose. One got caught on another and one staple pinched off my intestine. So, i had an obstructed bowel. I had a ct scan, a few x-rays, doped up on lots of morphine and laying in bed and watching tv. The pain of the obstructed bowel, before they could give me med's, was pretty intense. It was worse than labor pains. Not fun. I am glad it is over. Glad my mom is here. Glad i had a break from responsibilities. Glad to be home. Glad for a husband who is so helpful, loving and caring. I realized some things while i was away. 1. I am taking on too much. I was exhausted and didn't realize it til i had my 5 day hospital stay. My life is sooooo busy. I was in the hospital thinking about my life before i went in the hospital and i thought to myself, "How in the WORLD was i doing all that? How did i not have a break down yet?!!!" 2. I am tired of blogging, tired of the internet. It is not being what it used to be for me. I won't be blogging much anymore. I want to get all my blogs turned into books and then be done. 3. My dream of becoming a nurse is more alive than it ever has been. I want to become a nurse so bad and am determined to do it b/c if i don't, i will regret it. I know i will. Now i just need encouraging so that i can stay positive in that i am SMART enough to do it. :) 4. I want life to slow down. So, i am going to try to make that happen. 5. I like my life and who i am.

Anyway, i am fine. It is a freak accident, what happened. The doc said, "If i had thrown a bunch of staples into your stomach i still wouldn't expect this to happen". I missed my sister-in-laws wedding, which i was supposed to take pics at. Yeah. Stinks. I was her photographer AND i missed her wedding! I am so bummed, but things happen.

{Could these faces do any harm?}

So sweet.....
So innocent...

BAM!!! Little Brother takin big brother out with a stick! Still look sweet and innocent? Maybe not so sweet, but still innocent. :) They are really good at hitting each other lately. Gavin likes to boss Tanner around and likes to tease and harrass him. Tanner will tease him once in awhile. But Tanner isn't much of a teaser, so he gets Gavin back by HITTING him. This happens all too often around here lately.

{Thank you Miss California}

I just have to say, Good for you Miss California for standing by what you believe in and staying true to yourself. So many people stand by you. Poor Judge Hilton made a fool of himself defending his side---his side which makes absolutely no sense. He was very contradictory in what he said on MSNBC and sounded like an intolerant ignorant fool. Thank you Miss California for being so classy and staying true to yourself. You are a great example to so many and should be our Miss USA.

Eeewww, and you know what, i have to say one more thing....I saw a headline that said it was shocking to hear someone say on television that they believed that marriage should be b/w a man and a woman. What? What is so shocking about that? Come on....a few years ago it was shocking to hear someone admit to being gay and now it is completely opposite. I remember how shocking it was when people started coming forward admitting they were gay. How quickly things changed. I mean, It isn't shocking anymore, obviously. Also, Judge Hilton said that what Miss California said was offensive...I am sorry, but when has it ever been offensive to say what you believe? It is offensive if you were to actually OFFEND someone, but for a man who seems so concerned about HIS freedom of speech and what HE wants and making sure he is heard, he is quite intolerant of someone else's own personal beliefs that are different than his... again, that weren't even offensive. She did it in a classy way. He called her a stupid *$@!& even. Now who is offensive here? Who sounds uneducated? Seriously. Unfortunately for him he sounds like an angry uneducated ignorant human being. I even saw a headline that Miss California ruined her chances of ever going on Ellen. Who the heck cares anyway? Boo hoo. She can't go on Ellen. waaahhh. I am sick of the media. I mean, i watch Ellen sometimes. I love watching her b/c she if so funny. I am not going to stop watching her b/c we have different beliefs, but apparently she won't tolerate others with different beliefs. Sad.

{A Mom's Life}

You have to watch this...maybe the majority of you have seen this. I saw it awhile ago, but ran into it again and thought i would post the link if you haven't seen it. Mom and dady, you have to watch this. Just click on this link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7R9SFBLvIk

{Over the weekend...}

We went with some friends on Saturday to a rock climbing place(i can't remember the name)....Whipps ledges, i think. The boys and i watched Shane and his buddies climb this wall. Here are 2 pictures of Shane taking on the task. This first picture he kind of got stuck in the hole. It was funny.

Then after the rock climbing we all went to BrandyWine Falls and had a picnic and then enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Here is our cute little family....won't be so little anymore after a few more weeks.

I had to take a picture of this bench b/c it said "I heart Ash"....It was fun seeing my nickname carved into a bench, so i took a picture. :)

We did a lot of climbing---well, for an 8 month pregnant woman it was a lot. :) BUT, i made it just fine and considered that my workout for the day. It was a fun day.

Later That Night

Shane and i went on a date. We went to see Benjamin Button, which was a good story i guess, but it was too slow. We were occasionally looking looking at our watches hoping it was over soon. It is amazing to me how they can make Brad Pitt look so young and beautiful. :) We stopped at Wendy's to get a Frosty...a small frosty. When they gave us the cup, it was this mini cup....it wasn't the size we always get for a 99 cent Frosty. It was quite hilarious. I don't know if they were playing a joke on us, or if they have downsized. AND when we pulled up to order and came over the intercom saying their usual line, "welcome to Wendy's, would you like, blah blah, and etc." Anyway, this lady was overly exaggerating every word and super excited, it was strange. Overall, it was a strange visit to Wendy's. We had a good night though and it was nice to get out of the house....ALONE.

The Day Before

The boys and I went to the park with some friends and we all got sunburned. We were out there for about 2 hours i guess and i didn't even think about putting on sunscreen. It was like 60 degrees outside. Anyway, needless to say, we got a little sun on our faces. :)

Oh, can you believe it...I am going to be 8 months pregnant this weekend. Crazy, huh? I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by so far. :) I meant to take my maternity pics over the weekend, but things came up and we got busy, so i don't know when i am going to do it. I can't do it this weekend b/c we will be in D.C. I will have to do it shortly after that.

{What goes on in a house full of boys}

Tanner's pouting session.... And then quickly watch his pouting change into happiness when he notices the camera is on him.

Use my boys to get my photography fix.

The boys love to play with cars and dinosaurs, love to wrestle each other, love to watch Disney movies, love to play outside on their bikes, and most of all they love to play ball. Tanner is our little football player. He really likes to watch football, he loves wearing football shirts, and he always goes for the football when we play ball. He has a football throwing arm too. When he tries to use a basketball he can't seem to throw it right, but when he uses a football that ball is outta there!

Gavin is our basketball player. He loves basketball. He especially loves to play with his daddy. They will go upstairs and play and Shane likes to tease him a lot while he tries making shots. He always tries to steal it from him and gavin loves it. They have tons of fun shooting together. I can't wait to see what the future holds for these boys and their sports.Here is Shane going after Gavin trying to steal the ball from him.And amid all this chaos we have Gavin who knows how to tease and antagonize...he knows how to get Tanner really upset. He will make funny faces at him and it really gets Tanner upset. All we hear in the other room is tanner getting upset. Gavin is silent. We come in and tanner says "Gavin!" and points to him and Gavin just has this mischevious smile on his face.

Tanner knows how to "try" to get Gavin in trouble...he will scream and pretend cry and say "Gavin did it". Half of the time Gavin didn't really do anything.

Gavin knows how to push my buttons. Tanner knows how to try to win my heart. If Gavin doesn't get his way he starts whining a lot. The other day he started jumping up and down, sort of acting like a baby. Eeeww, that drives me nuts. Seriously. So, i put him in timeout. Then he starts fake crying really loud. Eeeewww, he knows EXACTLY how to get to me even more! Then i send him to his room. Tanner on the other hand... most of the time when i tell him to do something he says "okay mommy." AAaahhh. I need one of the boys to be that way otherwise i might think i am doing something wrong as a mother. :)

Yesterday they decided to play in a pile of muddy water. They were playing in the backyard and i slipped away for a moment and when i came back they had mud up the pants and all over their shoes.

Tanner likes to destroy things. Gavin likes things to be perfect. Tanner likes to throw toys down the stair and bring the whole toyroom down. Gavin tells tanner, "Tanner, we have to keep the toys upstairs...we need to keep the downstairs clean. Mom i am trying to tell Tanner that we don't want to make a mess." I know who will have a clean bedroom and who will have the dirty bedroom when they have their own rooms one day.

Gavin knows he will get in trouble if he does certain things, soooo he uses his little brother and has his do it for him. He tells Tanner to do it for him and Tanner falls for it. So they both get in trouble. :)

They eat a lot. Oh my they can eat a lot. It is amazing. Gavin can eat a lot, but he doesn't eat like he is a starving child. He takes his time. Tanner eats a lot and eats like he IS a starving child. He shoves food in his mouth and sometimes he puts so much in at one time that he starts to choke.

I told Shane the other day "Shane, when this baby comes i am going to be severely outnumbered." 4 boys to 1 girl. I never in my wildest dreams thought that i would have 3 boys and no girls. Life is full of surprises.

{Tanner and poop}

Tanner has had a few accidents since he has learned to go to the bathroom on the toilet. The thing is, sometimes i feel like we have a dog in our house. Tanner pooped his pants one time and i hear Gavin say "eeeewwww, there is poop!" I go to see and there is 2-3 pieces of poop in the corner of the baby's room. Today Tanner pooped his pants again. I must say, he does pretty good, but sometimes it is like he just forgets and poops in his pants. He came down to tell me he pooped his pants and i was surprised that there wasn't much poop in his pants. WELL, a few hours later the boys go back upstairs to play and i hear Tanner gag...at first it scares me b/c i am thinking he is choking on something, then i hear Gavin say "Mom! There is poop in the toy room!" Tanner was obviously gagging at his own mess he made. I was like, "ohhhhh, that would explain why there wasn't much in his pants this morning." I walk in the room and there is a huge chunk just sitting in the middle of the floor. I go to clean it up just like i would if a dog had pooped in the house. It is just hilarious to me how i have found pieces of poop laying around the house. Gavin never did that. Ohhhh, gotta love the differences b/w kids....it's never a dull moment. Always one surprise after another.

Oh, and a reminder....this is me about one month before my due date with Tanner. August. It was so darn hot that summer. Yes, i was miserable, can't you tell?! I look horrible. I am just glad that right now i don't feel the way i look in this picture....thank heavens. Hopefully i don't jinx myself. :)

{Easter Weekend}

Friday the boys and I went over to our friend's house. We dyed some easter eggs together, chatted, and she had some chocolate covered strawberries for me(which i realize i didn't eat them all...what was i thinking?!) I absolutely love Chocolate covered strawberries. Anyway, that started off our easter weekend. Thanks Hatsuho! :)

Saturday morning we dyed some of our own Easter eggs. I put the vinegar in with the dye pills. The boys pulled chairs up to the counter to watch. Tanner put his face a little too close and he must have gotten some of the vinegar fizz up his nose. He quickly turned away from it and started gagging. Before i know it he is gagging so much from it that he ends up puking. Didn't realize he is so sensitive to things. He is our little gagger. It is a new discovery as of a few months ago, when he discovered he didn't like seeing his own poop.

Sunday morning they got up before we did. I got up and went to the bathroom and while doing that i hear Gavin say "It's our SURPRISE!!!" We missed it, i thought. I wanted to be out there to see his face. Oh well. Gavin got candy from the Easter bunny, a Transformers hat, and a new spring colored tie. Tanner got his candy and a new church outfit, since he doesn't have one. They both looked sooooo handsome wearing their ties to church. I loved it. I will have to take pics of them in their church outfits next Sunday since i didn't get any on Easter Sunday.

For dinner we had deviled eggs, ham, cheesy potatoes, and a fruit pizza. The boys loved it. It was a great easter. No shirts allowed while dying eggs!

Their beautiful creations.

IN OTHER NEWS

I will be 31 weeks along in a few days. Facts about me and the baby right now...

1. Baby kicks and moves A TON. I don't ever recall getting irritated by the kicking and movement with the other two like i do with this one. :) He is very restless.

2. I am still feeling pretty good for the most part. Every once in awhile i start experiencing those moments where i feel like i am going to have a break down b/c i can't move. I am as slow as a turtle. I feel like a beached whale. That kind of restriction can be very frustrating, but i try to focus on other things, and good thing i have two boys to keep the focus off of me. :) They are a good distraction! :)

3. I really don't have much longer! It has gone by soooo fast, but still seems too far away. It is strange b/c i feel like it is too close, but not close enough.

4. I discovered over the weekend that i have a friable cervix(also known as a fragile cervix). It is okay though. It won't effect the rest of my pregnancy or the baby.

5. I am already tossing and turning a ton in the night. Wow, i toss and turn a lot. I just can't get comfortable.

6. The baby pushes down on my bones a lot. It is like he is burying his head in my pelvic region. Sort of like he is trying to push his way out. Believe me, he wants out....he acts like he is sick of being in there and is trying to push his way out.

7. He sticks his bum out a lot, either to the left or right of my belly button. It is hilarious b/c all of a sudden you can see this bulge, and it is his bum b/c an ultrasound confirmed that over the weekend.

8. We can't wait to meet this little boy. The boys are so excited. They ask me "When are we gonna have the baby?!!" Gavin asked me, "Is it gonna hurt you to have the baby mom?" I just said, "I hope not." Gavin is excited to help feed the baby his bottle and help change his diapers and hold him. I just wonder how long the excitement and newness of it will last. :)

9. We haven't decided on a name yet. I don't know if we ever will. It is being so difficult to find a boy name that isn't being used for a girl name these days... I think, "oh this is a good boy name, but then find out that it is being used for girl names. What is going on?! Girl names are so easy...These days parents are stealing boy names and turning them into girl names(which makes it hard to want to name your son a name that is for a girl too), You can be very creative with girl names without making them sound weird, plus there is so much variety....But then there are boy names....it is so hard to find one that isn't weird, that isn't used often, that is a strong name used strictly for boys. This is just like the clothes section for little kids....a huge section for the girls clothes and then....WHAT?...where is the boy section?.... oh, this is it? I totally would have missed it if you didn't point it out to me. :) Well, i guess i can't say all stores are this way, but i noticed myself saying this often. Or i go into the Dr.'s office and when we leave there are all kinds of stickers for the kids to choose from....they have girl one's, but what about the boy stickers? Where are the boy stickers?! They know they get to choose a sticker, but who wants to give their son a Barbie sticker?! What about the BOYS people?! Boys are human too!!! hahaha. i am just kidding around. Anyway, i just want a strong boy name that isn't being used by everyone these days. Any ideas?!