Angels?

I want to start this post out by saying that most days my boys play so well with each other and love each other very much. Still, they are kids and brothers no less. They do have their moments of disagreements, wrestling matches and yes, even the knock down fights.

With this week being VBS, it has been hard on the kids. Since I work until 5:00, they've had practically no "mommy time" at all. We've been at VBS every night from about 5:45 until 8:30 each night. By the time I get them home they are pretty wound up and it is hard to get them into bed at a decent time. They are extremely tired. My kids are early birds and are up no later than 7:30 each day--they simply have not gotten enough rest. But, I must say they have been SUPER to have done what they have done this week. Each of their teachers have told me how good they have been in their classes. Ms. Jean could not say enough good things about Jagger. That always makes me happy.

Still, I have to tell this story about Lawson. Tonight as I was cleaning up the kitchen Lawson came running to me in a panic saying, "Mom! I've made a TERRIBLE mistake!!!" (Lawson has a flair for the dramatic. I'll not admit he gets it from me but I probably shouldn't deny it, either!) Soon after his exclamation I heard a screaming cry from the other room. Turns out that a toy went sailing across the room and right into Jag's face. Also turns out the toy went sailing by way of Lawson's hand. Jagger had already had a scratch on his face from a previous mishap and this flying toy re-injured that scratch. He had blood running down his face and Lawson was in a hysterical panic. I was concentrating on trying to get Jagger's face cleaned up when I heard Lawson crying while saying, "I guess I'll just go live at another house."

I stopped what I was doing and and asked him what house was he going to live at and he told me one in Greenfield. Curious as to what he would do I told him that we sure would miss him since we knew it was an accident and that he had not meant to hurt his brother. I turned back around to see about Jagger's face again and heard Lawson go to the back door, open it up and just stand there. I figured he was waiting for me to stop him but I just let him stand there for a while. Finally, a few minutes later I heard this quiet little voice say so softly, "Mom...will you drive me, cause I can't drive, yet." It makes me laugh all over again writing it.

He stepped away from the door when I told him I wanted to talk to him. He and I sat down and had a talk about having rules for reasons--some of those reasons being that people often get hurt when the rules are broken. All is well now...well, at least at the moment. :)

Having boys is often trying but it is my passion and I love it. I wouldn't want it any other way!

My Jagger angel.
My Lawson angel.

One more thing...

One more little thing I thought I'd add to my last post...

I just recently found out that through Snapfish you can order collages. They are so cool looking! I thought it might be neat to order one of these to go in Rhett's room. Here is a sample of one I put together. I just thought they were the neatest things and thought I'd put this out there so you could see. Here is a sample of what you can do:

Also, I had a little time to touch up one more picture that my dad took. It was done in silhouette. I think this turned out pretty good as well. I love how these make you look smaller than you actually are! Ha! :) Anyway, just wanted to add these to the last post!

Never say never, right?

Our family shot--only missing Rhett...

I LOVE this picture of the boys!

Me and Brandon

Me and my sweet Lawson--he's mama's boy sometimes!

Well, I said I'd never want to have maternity shots done. Funny how your mind can change as you view things differently. It is hard for me to describe my emotions throughout this pregnancy. I'm so excited, overwhelmed, and sad all at the same times. The sadness is mostly because this seems to be my "last time arounds". This will be the last time I have to look at this growing belly...the last time I have to see these lovely stretchmarks or "love marks" as I like to call them...my last time to feel my baby moving inside of me...the last time to hear that galloping sound of his heartbeat at dr visits...the last time to hear that first newborn cry. All of these thoughts flood my mind. I know that these lasts are only the beginning of many, many more firsts, however it still saddens me a little that this part of my life will be behind me. So, with all of that said, I decided to go ahead and do some maternity shots--love marks and all! Hopefully the big belly will soon fade after Rhett makes his arrival, but I just wonder if one day I won't want to look back at that baby growing inside of me? In case I ever do, I will have these photos.

I first thought that I would NEVER show these to anyone--just have them around so that when I did want to look at them, they would be there. My dad came over and took the pictures for me. I wanted some of the boys with "the belly" because they are so sweet and talk to and kiss Rhett already. I wanted to capture a little of that. The more I got to looking at the photos the more they grew on me and although I look and feel like an enormous elephant most of the time, for some reason, I love some of these pics. So, with all of that said, I'm deciding to post a few of them...one of those famous, "I'll never do..." statements! Thanks dad for the photos. I think all of these turned out very well.
Baby Rhett--only 9 weeks left!!

We're all ready for him!

The boys love him so much and already tell me how "cute" he is.

Sweet kisses for Rhett already.

This picture cracks me up! Jagger wanted to compare bellies! I think I won! :)

The boys love talking to him. Rhett is going to be so blessed with two fine big brothers!

Overall the "photo shoot" went very well. The boys cooperated for the most part and we got some really neat family photos which are pictured at the top. We are by no means professionals but I'm very pleased with these and think that I will one day be very happy I have them. Not to mention being able to look back and say, "Wow! Glad my belly isn't that big anymore!" Ha. Hopefully, that is! :)

Wow!

What a busy few weeks! I thought the summers were supposed to be laid back and relaxing! Not ours. We are constantly on the go or involved with something to keep us busy. I am gearing up for another registration day at work where we will hand out another 125 or so mac computers. I'm sure after Friday I will be EXHAUSTED! The preparation for these registration days is mentally tiring and lets face it! My stamina is not up to par these days!

Along with gearing up for this event, this week is our vacation bible school. The kids had a blast last night and I hope my friend Sandy will not mind me using one of the photos she took of Jagger. The story was about Peter and his good friend Jesus and how Jesus helped them catch lots of fish. Jagger and his classmates got to catch their own fish! We have some extremely talented ladies at our church and they come up with the most fun and creative things you can imagine to help the kids get a real sense of the stories they are hearing.

I wanted to share a few pictures that we've collected over the past few weeks but didn't get off of the camera until last night--life is just too busy!

This is a "get well" letter that Lawson made for "Grandad" (actually Becky's dad, but both my kids call him "grandad") Grandad had surgery a couple of weeks ago and Lawson thought it would be really nice to send him a get well wish. He got a little flustered with his "e's" but decided it was worth it in the end. He licked the envelope and marched it out to the mailbox himself. He was so proud!

The boys have enjoyed the weather and kept cool by spending time in their pool. The LOVE it!

Mom snapped this pic of Jagger and it is just too sweet! I love it!

My good friend Becky found this shirt while she was on vacation. Since we all call him peanut we couldn't think of a more appropriate shirt! Becky is always good to think of my boys even when she is on vacation!

Getaway to Louisville

Brandon and I at the rehearsal dinner.

This weekend, I had the pleasure of a weekend getaway with just my husband. We enjoyed it so much! Brandon had to be in a wedding in Louisville for an old high-school friend. We decided that rather than drag our children off on a 5 hour car ride where the hi-lights of the weekend would be sleeping 4 (and a half if you count Rhett) to a king size bed, we would leave them here with mom and dad and spare them the torments of wedding dinner rehearsals and ceremonies. Brandon and I took advantage of our time together and enjoyed the weekend very much. I have lots of pictures, surprisingly since it was just the two of us, but we had some super friend volunteers who took pics for us. Brandon's parents and sister even came up and met us on Saturday and we got to spend some time with them. Rather than blog about everything and then post pictures at the end, I'll post a picture, telling about it and then move on to the next. We did lots of stuff in a short period of time and there are so many good pictures that I expect this will be a long blog...

Friday night after the rehearsal dinner, Brandon and I headed out to 4th Street Live. We had heard a little about it but really didn't know what it was all about. Before even walking on to the street they asked to see our ids (which I had left in our hotel room of course). They looked down at my belly very non-discreetly and said I could go on in--that they didn't think I would be drinking anyway. Ha. So, we walked down the street and listened to some of the music. Unless you were in and out of bars, there wasn't much to do so needless to say, we didn't spend very much time there. Still it was neat to see all the lights and hear some music.

This picture is actually for my brother! On 4th street, they had a bowling alley called Lucky Strike. I had Brandon take a picture for J! When J was in college he was hypnotized at one of the school functions. They told him he was in a horse race and asked him what the name was of the horse he was betting on. In a very slow, country accent he said, "Luuuucky Striiiiiike". When I saw this I immediately thought of him. This is for you, J!

After we had enough of 4th street, we walked to a little park with water fountains all around. It was right down the street from our hotel. We stopped for a few pictures before heading in for the night. The weather was perfect and it was a very pretty place!

Saturday was full of wedding festivities. We arrived at the church around 12:30 for Brandon to be in pictures. The wedding was in a Catholic church and the detail in the church was unbelievable. It was beautiful!

After the wedding, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the reception. This is Brandon's family. I thought it was a really good picture and it was a nice bonus to get to see them and spend some time with them, and although I know they wished we would have brought the boys, we enjoyed our time without having to share them! :)

This is Brandon and a big group of his buddies. When we first started dating, each visit to Inez brought in a whole new group of friends, it seemed. His house was always full of his friends! Now that they are older, and most are married or dating, they don't get together like they used to. I know they must have enjoyed seeing each other again! They weren't exactly thrilled about all the pictures I took but they were good sports and humored me! I think Brandon will be glad he has these one day!

One of the funniest things on the trip was the car ride from the reception! I had ridden (is that a word? It sounds weird...)with Brandon's parents and sister to the reception. We didn't think about all of us having to pile in the car on the ride home from the reception! We were a car full. Luckily, I had my camera to document the moment! :) Mandy and her parents squeezed in the back with her parents (I discovered being hugely pregnant has its advantages as I enjoyed my cushy, air-conditioned seat from the front!) and I was there to snap the pics! :)

These are Brandon's buddies and their wives. We enjoyed getting to hang out and spend some time together this weekend.

We parked at the Louisville Slugger Museum. I wish we would have had time to actually visit that. I think I would have enjoyed it. But, this is the world's largest bat and it sits right outside the museum. Becky, you need to show this to Carter! :)

After changing clothes after the rehearsal dinner we took a drive across the river into Indiana. I had never been to Indiana before and unfortunately, I don't have the pics to document my excitement, but my sister-in-law does! :) We drove across the river to a small park where you can see the Louisville skyline. It was very pretty from there as the sun was going down. You can see Louisville behind us in this pic.

After our trip to Indiana we finally sat down to eat supper around 10:30 eastern time! We went to one of mine and Brandon's favorite places: Joe's Crab Shack. We had tons of crab legs and were even given these stylish bibs to wear!

After a late night Saturday night we slept in a little that morning--all the way to 8:30! Ha. We drove past some old historic homes of the Louisville area that were breath-taking! We headed to Churchill Downs--a dream of mine! One day I will get to the Kentucky Derby with my fancy big hat! :) Until that day, this will do. I at least got to see it and it is beautiful!

Such exciting things to cram into one short three day weekend! Overall it was very hectic and rushed but very fun and allowed Brandon and I some time together without having to referee, feed and chase two very active little boys around. But, man oh man, were we ready to see them on Sunday! They were, of course, excited to see  us too. It was good to come home to such sweet hugs and kisses! A huge thanks to my mom and dad for looking after them. They enjoyed their weekend with you and we are so blessed that you two help us out the way you do! Thanks so much for helping make our getaway possible!

FAT and happy!

Our sweet baby boy!! We had our follow up ultrasound yesterday. As I mentioned in an earlier posting, the doctor was concerned because I was measuring larger than my due date indicated I should be. He scheduled this follow-up ultrasound to check to make sure there was no excess amniotic fluid that would indicate a problem. The results were: not too much fluid--just a BIG boy! He's nearly 3 lbs already, weighing about 2lbs, 12 oz! Dr. says he's on track to be a 9 pounder just like his brother Lawson was. Doesn't matter! It's not the most comfortable thing to carry around a 9 lb baby in your belly, but if he's healthy, that's all that matters to me! I couldn't believe how we could see his face in this profile picture. I guess to many it is still hard to see and make out the detail, but he is facing the left. If you look you can see his fist in front of his forehead, his little eye is closed, you can see his mouth, nose and of course those chubby little cheeks! I was amazed at how filled out his cheeks were this early on. He's so beautiful to me, but I realize I'm biased. :) I'm supposed to be--I'm the mom!

I tried to explain what everything was in the picture to Lawson. I'm not sure how much of it he could make out. I asked him who he thought Rhett looked like and he said, "Well, I think he just looks like rocks to me." Haha. I think he was a little disappointed that he could not tell more about his baby brother than he could. :)

But, all in all we had a great appointment yesterday. Rhett is healthy and happy and FAT. I love fat babies--after they come out, of course. My blood pressure was better yesterday, dr. said my weight was good and I did not have gestational diabetes. What a relief! That was the last of the "big" appointments. Now all we do is return every two weeks for blood pressure check and check Rhett's heartbeat. Now we just wait. Wait for him to put on even more weight and get ready to meet his family that is so anxious to see him.

Another profile shot.

He was looking at us in this shot. Too bad we couldn't get him to do this for the 3D pics! He was being a little stubborn and kept turning his back to us in the 3D ultrasound. Little stinker!

Still a boy. The ultrasound tech asked us if we knew or wanted to know what the baby was. We told her we already knew unless something had fallen off since the last ultrasound. Everything was still there! :) Is it just me or can you even tell he has chunky legs already???! :)

Oops!!!

Well, here's one for the record books! Jagger can find himself in more messes (literally) than I could have ever imagined! As a baby he was so quiet, content, and calm. I don't know where those days went but they are long passed! ;)

Yesterday we surprised my dad with a birthday cake. We had time to show dad the cake briefly and then I whisked it off to the table so we could head out the door to eat birthday supper. As we were trying to get everyone rounded up and ready to go we could hear Jagger saying something in the background over and over but weren't really paying attention. We suddenly heard a plop followed by an "uh-oh" (note to self: when you hear "uh-oh" no need to get in a big hurry--you're already too late!) but turned to find the birthday cake face down in the floor. Jagger was standing over it in disbelief with deer-in-the-headlights look. He wasn't quite sure what to think--that is until he licked his fingers and exclaimed, "Ummmm! Good cake Grandaddy!"

At the moment, I was about to cry but we managed to salvage the cake and have a little of it to eat later. Dad quickly got the camera to capture the moment (although I'll admit I was not in the mood for pictures) but mom and dad assured me this would be one for the blog. I guess I'm glad I have it now. :)

So sorry Grandaddy! Sorry your cake was a FLOP--quite literally!