One (nearly) Down, Two To Go

I love it when you are asked when your due date is and you say you don't know. People look at you like you are crazy and then begin to ask questions. Well, how far along are you? I don't know. When was the first day of your last period? I don't know. Are you sure you are even pregnant? (staring incredulously)

It makes me giggle.

So first, a little family history. I have always wanted my kids to be close in age. I had Alexis, and at just about 18 months later, I had Emily. I loved that spacing. I loved how close my girls are as sisters and friends. I love that when my oldest was growing out of the baby stage- I had another baby coming. I loved it!
Then, when Emi was around 9 months old, I thought we ought to try again for the same spacing. Unfortunately, this time we were told no (we always pray about and take the decision to have or not to have a baby seriously). And I waited and I waited and I waited. Finally I felt the time was right to be off of birth control. And I waited and waited. Then I got pregnant- and miscarried. Then I got pregnant again. By the time Johnathon was born, Alexis was almost 5 and Emily was 3.  I loved this spacing too. My girls were so independent- I had so much one on one time with my baby. It was perfect timing for us at the time, because my husband was deployed and I didn't have his extra help.

Pretty much right after Nater was born, I was ready for another baby. We prayed and agreed that we didn't need to be on birth control and when it was time, we would have another baby. I tested monthly because I was not having a period. On Nov. 29th, the test was positive. We were having another baby!!!!!

And thus, the questioning begins. I don't know when we conceived, and I didn't have any periods between Nater and this pregnancy- so there is little to base the due dates off of. Pretty much I can narrow it down to a month based on when I had a negative pregnancy test and when I had a positive pregnancy test. The furthest along I could be is about 13 weeks. The least is about 9. My body is suggesting that is closer to the 13 weeks- as several of my first trimester symptoms are diminishing. I should be due in August. We won't have a more accurate guess until we have an ultrasound (typically at your 2nd doctor visit). Which will be awhile for us. We had some issues with getting our insurance switched over, now we have to make it to the clinic (with a rental car I can't drive- during hours my husband works) for a pregnancy test. Then we wait for a referral to see a doctor. Then we schedule a visit (first visit is personal history). Then we will get to schedule our second visit. If each of those steps takes only a week- I would still be at the beginning of my second trimester based on my least pregnant possibility.

I am so excited about this baby! Philip is hoping for another boy- to even out our numbers. The girls want a sister. I felt for the longest time like it was twins (I think mostly because then I would be done having babies). We are 85% sure that we won't be finding out the gender of the baby. With Alexis, we did not have an ultrasound and I love that Philip was the one that got to announce to me that she was a girl. I think it made it more concrete that we had a baby. With Emily, we had to know- we either had everything we needed, or we needed everything. With as tight as money was then, we would need at least 9 months to prepare for a boy. With Johnathon, we found out because Philip was home for R&R on his deployment and wanted a son SO badly! The doctor checked early for us- so that Philip could be a part of finding out the gender of his boy. Now- there really isn't much of a reason to find out. I think I want to wait and have it be a surprise (or at least I know I want to wait now, I don't know if I will change my mind later).

Wow, this ended up being a very long post to say a simple, "yay! I'm not so sick anymore!" Sorry if it was boring, but I hope you enjoyed reading some of our personal family history. Because we are not yet announcing this to everyone (a.k.a. facebook) it was fun for me to tell.

The Hintons Come To Tennessee

Well, some of them do anyways. The beginning of this year, my mom had some time off work and decided to drive down to visit. She brought with her my dad, my younger sister and two of my nieces (near in age to my girls). The girls didn't know that they were coming- so it was a surprise when they walked in.

We did Christmas presents from Grammy and Grampy. We each got pajamas. Philip got a shop vac and I got cookie cutters. The girls got a barbie doll and a stocking full of goodies.

We hung out and had fun. The Borlands came to visit and (finally) meet my family. Mom cooked for us :) We went shopping. We made a cake and fondant to decorate it with. The girls played, and fought, and played some more.

They didn't get to stay for very long- but I am so glad they came. I loved that they got to see my house and that I got to see them again so soon after Thanksgiving. I think I could really get used to this being only 8 hours apart.

Lion John And McD's

I am pleased to announce the grand opening of a wonderful new restaurant in a kitchen near me! Lion John officially opened for business today. I interviewed the joint owners about their new restaurant.

Worker Alexis keeping the kitchen clean.

Me: "Tell me the name of your new restaurant"
Alexis: "Lion John"
Me: "what was your inspiration for your restaurant title?"
Alexis: "hmm... (hands on face and everything)... What is a title?"
Me: "A title is what something is called, it's name. So, I was wondering why you chose to name your restaurant Lion John."
Alexis: "Because I like that name."
Me: "Why did you open a restaurant?"
Alexis: "Because we wanted to."
Me: "Where did you get the idea to open a restaurant?"
Alexis: "in my head."
Me: "What is your job at the restaurant?"
Alexis: "to cook."
Me: "What do you serve at the restaurant?"
Alexis: "People! I don't serve, I cook and serve."
Me: "What kind of food do you cook?"
Alexis: "Peanut butter sandwiches and dessert."
Me: "What is your favorite dessert at the restaurant?"
Alexis: "hmm... chocolate chip dessert!"

Chef Emily cooking a tasty sandwich. (My favorite part is that they only pretended to mix all the seasoning)

Me: "Tell me the name of your new restaurant."

Emily: "You mean only mine?"
Me: "Don't you share the restaurant with Lexi?"
Emily: "uh-uh, I have my own"
Me: "oh, what is your restaurant called?"
Emily: "McDonald's with a playground."
Me: "what is your job at the restaurant?"
Emily: "um, to bake and serve and eat."
Me: "what do you serve at the restaurant?"
Emily: "peanut butter and jelly, nutella, and flour sandwich."
Me: "what is your favorite part of having a restaurant?"
Emily: "that I get to serve food."
Me: "What is the hardest part of having a restaurant?;
Emily: "That I get to help with my sister."

A disgruntled (former) employee after being fired. (Alexis stole the broom he was playing with so I could take her picture.)

Texas

My husband spent much of his life moving around. (This is a strange concept to me, because I spent 18 years in the same house- the same one my mom came home from the hospital to.) But if he had to name a hometown- had to choose a single place to call home, it would be Texas. Since we met, he has wanted to take me there- and he finally got that chance. For Christmas this year we went to visit his parents in Texas.
For me the BEST part of this trip was all of the memories. I LOVE memories- hearing or telling stories about a person's childhood, pictures, places, reminiscing. I love it all. I think my husband told me more stories in the half hour of driving through his old town than I had heard our entire marriage before that. My loving Mother-in-law gave me an amazing Christmas gift of photos from my husband's childhood and genealogy. It was wonderful- and continues to be wonderful as I now get to go through those pictures and have a visual of where these stories happened. I also loved getting to spend time with family and catch up with them on life, and how things are going in their world.
I'd say my husband's favorite part of being back in Texas was feeling like he was going home. He got to see friends that he hadn't seen in ten years. He got to spend a LOT of time with his Dad. And he got to test drive an STI (which he keeps insisting was his favorite part).
Alexis' favorite part of being in Texas was seeing family, including the dogs. She was three when we moved to Colorado and away from family. She seems to have some memories of living with them- but she feels like she really knows them now. She has memories of these family members and a mental image to put with their names.
Emily was incredibly impressed with how similar Texas was to the world she knows. "Mom, there is a Wal-Mart IN Texas!" "Dad, they have a park IN Texas!" She enjoyed spending time with family too, and even got to the point she was comfortable with the dogs. She says her favorite part of being in Texas was opening presents on Christmas.
Johnathon loved exploring the house (which he didn't get to do often). He got to meet this side of the family for the first time. He loves them all!

Oh, and the weather was GORGEOUS!!!!!

Today

I don't really want to play catch up right now- so here is a note about today.

Today...
-I woke up to the sound of Johnathon opening and closing his door. Followed by the sound of the girls rushing to him to wish him a good morning and then a phone call from the hubby.
-During all of this I still cuddled in my warm, comfy bed and allowed myself a slow-pace wake up.
- I decided to get rid of the nicknames in our blog. I started it to protect our privacy- but it has become such a distraction. The only real life times I use those nicknames (except the boy- which I use all the time) is when I am talking about my girls to my husband with them in the room
-I am crazy, ridiculously happy! No reason. No NEED for a reason! Just happy!
- I am making a SERIOUS effort to get rid of junk in my life. I am a major packrat and this will be VERY hard to do, but it feels so good already.
-My girls are still in pajamas, the boy is naked and we don't have any major plans. We've been snacking on cereal all day and playing the wii or computer (with a tiny bit of cleaning thrown in)
-I am listening to music because I WANT to. I am not stressed by the added noise and I even catch myself singing along.
- I am starting a pile of "stuff the family left behind" mostly because my girls are so concerned about their cousins and how unfortunate they are to be missing out on the silly little trinkets that got left behind.
- I think I might make cookies. Not because I want cookies, but because I really want the rest of the frosting my mom made and I think it'd be perfect sandwiched between chocolate chip goodness. May even freeze them to have cool treats for future days. MMMMM!!!!
-I am grateful for everything! The list would be too long to put on here, but thought after thought is flooding my head of all of the amazing and wonderful things I have in my life. Not to mention the awesome people.

Today is a good day :)

Merry Christmas!

Each of our kids has their own little tree that they get to decorate. The trees are then available for them to touch and redo anytime they want to. I also plan on sending the trees with them when they leave the house.

We've had a few days of presents (and more to come) for Christmas this year. First, we opened the presents we had at home (from Grammy Lyn and Gpaw PC, and the gifts the kids got each other). Then we traveled to visit family in TX and opened Christmas presents there. Then, when we finally got home, we exchanged gifts with some of our bests friends. Usually our kids are slow when opening presents. They open one and play with it for some time before moving on to the next. This year- our busy schedules made it so we had to rush them a bit. Either way, they loved their gifts!

I LOVE At Home Photo Shoots!

I got the ornaments out and he loved them.

I loved the way his face got covered in glitter.

I love to take pictures of my kids. I love to set up a fake at home studio. I love to play with my digital camera. I love having free pictures of my kids that are just what I want. I love our at home photo shoots. I love seeing how many decent shots I can get without doing any editing (the only editing I usually do is cropping). I love the faces my kids make when we take pictures. I love how much fun we have. So, I set up a shoot on the first of December (when we were decorating the house). Hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I do!

Nine Months Old

So a while back (a week or so), TB turned nine months old. And right around this time- he changed! I mean really changed! Not just the wake up and wonder how much weight or how many inches he gained in his sleep sort of change, but the I can't believe you are my baby anymore change.

Here are some of the things TB now does regularly- as the new him.

Crawls on hands and knees- no more belly dragging for him. This new way is comparable to the speed of his belly dragging but much cleaner and seems to be easier for him.

Understands what "no" means- this, of course, does not mean that he listens. Usually it takes a few "nos" and often redirecting for him to stop the behavior- but he knows that he is disobeying at least.

Hates baby food- baby food is for babies and he is in NO way a baby. He weaned himself from breastfeeding and only eats a few bites of baby food. He loves to feed himself fistfuls of grown up food and has even begun to vocalize "ba" (bite) and "ba-ba" (bottle) to let us know what he wants.

Prewalking- TB had begun mild cruising on furniture before, but never took many steps at a time. Now he prefers to be upright and walking. If you hold his hands he will walk and practically run to get to things.

Plays with toys- although he still puts everything in his mouth, it as if he has discovered that toys can have a secondary purpose to chew toys. He has begun to show toy preference and wants to play alongside his sisters.

TB has 5 teeth with 2 more breaking through. He wears clothing from size 3 months (church pants) to 12 months (onesies). He hates to have clothes on, especially socks and shoes. He still loves electronics and is doing much better at leaving our electronics alone. He is growing up so quickly! I love my charming little boy!

Catching Up

There is so much to tell. I plan on trying to spend the next few days catching up. The stories probably wont be in order, but I will try to add them as I can.