Boy Oh Boy.... It's a Girl!

Today was an exciting day.  In addition to it being my birthday, I had my 20 week ultra sound in which we were able to find out the sex of our baby.  

Most of us were thrilled with the news.

Others of us (Ben) were a bit confused and seemingly clueless to what this news meant.... and still others of us (Paul), were less than thrilled.  

Check out the video below to see Paul's reaction to the news.  His sheer disappointment coupled with a lack of sleep the previous night makes for some loud crying (sorry).  His reaction had me laughing very hard :)

From the very first day that we told Paul we were expecting another baby, he has insisted that the new baby is a boy.  He has been closed off to the possibility that this baby could be a girl and has been looking forward to having another brother.  After his initial meltdown over the news that this baby is a girl, Paul decided to pray and ask Heavenly Father to help him.  The audio is terrible, but perhaps you can hear Paul asking that the baby please be "changed into a boy".  Oh, I love Paul.

Unless Paul's prayer is answered, we're having a GIRL!  

Monster Truck Madness

Paul and Ben, along with their cousin Rocky, had the pure (male) pleasure of attending the Monster Truck show earlier this month.  I had the pleasure of not attending the show :)

The next day, the boys woke up excited to tell me all about the really big, really loud monster trucks.

 Paul's persistent begging even allowed him the opportunity to ride on one of the Monster Trucks-- Twisted Steel.  It was the quickest $10 we've spent lately, but his excitement made it well worth it.

Here is Paul jamming to a song while waiting in line to ride Twisted Steel.  He's got some sweet moves :-)

All 3 boys were tuckered out and nodded off on their way home, dreaming of monster trucks (I assume).

Happy Birthday Justin!

text to come soon :)

Can it Be?

Today we registered Paul for kindergarten.

Will my little boy really be turning 5 and heading off to school this fall?  

It's a moment I often dreamed of  as a form of relief when things seemed too hard at home, but now it's a much more bitter sweet thought.  I'm proud of my little 4 year old and all that he can do, all that he has learned, and I'm going to miss this boy while he's gone (for all 3 hours :) each day.

Here We Go Again!

We're very excited for the arrival of baby #3 this coming summer!

This almost 2 cm long baby has a lot of growing and developing to do before his big arrival, but already he's loved by his family.  Paul and Ben both insist on kissing my belly each night as their way of saying goodnight to the baby and he has made it into both boys' prayers.  Paul even asks me to open my mouth so that he can talk into it so that the baby can hear him (the mouth is the most direct route to the stomach, right?).  

Paul insists that this baby is a boy and has named him Sis Paul Clements.  So instead of referring to this baby as he, she, or it, we all affectionately refer to the baby as Sis (though I'm positive we'll go another route with the official name). 

I had an early ultrasound yesterday to get an official due date for Sis.  It was incredible to see how developed this tiny baby is already.  I could see the heart beat, the spine, and I even saw Sis move once.  It was a new experience for me and helped the reality of this pregnancy set in (although my face is breaking out like a teenager's, I'm experiencing mild morning sickness, and am extremely tired, so I do have daily reminders that I am pregnant).

Here is a picture of Sis, measuring just under 2 cm long.  (head is to the left)

Can't wait to meet you Sis!

Fall Leaves

We love this time of year.  

Cool, crisp weather and beautiful colors.

And tons, and tons of leaves.

Why Not?

This past year has brought a large amount of frustration into my life and I certainly have not handled it well.  I felt like I had so little control over my life, down to the smallest things like (literally) not being able to take one step without offending a little guy and making him cry.  Because of the increased frustration, I gradually stopped doing as much.  I began avoiding any situation that had a decent chance of creating extra work or frustration, no matter how much fun it promised.  Recently, I realized how much I was missing out on and decided to try to really live.  To live the life that I'm in right now.  Instead of saying no, I began saying, why not?

Why not wake up our peacefully sleeping kids before 6 am, load their crying, confused little bodies into the car and drive them to the next town?  While we're at it, why not load them up with amounts of sugar they're unaccustomed to in lieu of breakfast?  After that, why not load them up in the car again and drive them an hour and a half more, to trek (what felt like) a mile or so by foot in the hot sun in order to spend the rest of the hot August day in the blistering heat?  Why not keep adding to the day and keep the sleep deprived kids up way past their bed-time?

Why not?
(day 1)