Friday, April 29, 2011

Delightfully sprinkled

My sweet MOPS friends threw a surprise baby "sprinkle" for me a few weeks ago. It was disguised as a planning meeting, and I had absolutely no clue! My girlfriend, Erin, had planned to host the shower/meeting (3 days before her due date! crazy girl!), but ended up having her baby the night before!  Lauren graciously hosted at the last minute, and they definitely managed to pull off the surprise!

I felt blessed and loved that they wanted to celebrate with us the upcoming arrival of our baby girl, and we were definitely generously "sprinkled" with some essential baby items that were still on my shopping list.  Thanks so much, ladies!

Some of the guests

Cupcakes to match our nursery theme with amazing, edible hibiscus flowers and surfboards!  (And made by a fellow MOPS mom!)
Opening some fun gifts!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Easter

We had a fun Easter with the kids.  It's fun for me that they are getting old enough to anticipate and enjoy the excitement of holidays, but at the same time, we are trying to focus on the reasons for the holidays and not make it primarily about treats and gifts.  That being said, it's quite a challenge to figure out how to explain abstract concepts like death, life, and resurrection, to preschoolers.  Josh knows that Jesus died and was put inside a cave and that Easter is for celebrating that Jesus is ALIVE again.  We also taught them that if someone says, "He is risen", they should say, "Hallelujah!".  I love the sound of hallelujahs coming out of those little mouths.
 
They got new sand buckets as Easter baskets and a few fun treats inside.  We had a traditional Nettleton-syle candy hunt, yummy breakfast fixed by daddy, and then headed off to church. 

The church has a ginormous Easter Egg Hunt after the service.  The kids were more anxious to see (and eat) what was inside the eggs than to collect them, which works out fine for everyone since that leaves less candy for them to continually beg for during the days following!

The Carcas joined us after church and we headed over to the Baughmans' for dinner with friends.  They really know how to entertain, and fun times and full bellies were had by all!

38 Weeks

Easter: Last family photo as four!
I am getting super anxious to meet our new baby girl!  For whatever reason, I've thought (hoped?) that I would have this baby early and am now spending every day (and especially the middle of the night) thinking that TODAY is THE DAY!  I think my eagerness is a combination of being anxious to meet her and to not be pregnant - an end to the tiredness, awkwardness, and weird aches and pains that come with it.  However, as good as it feels to not be pregnant, it will be a whole new kind of exhaustion, awkwardness, and body aches as we return to babyland!  And, who knows what kind of temperament Baby #3 will have?  Lord, please, another good sleeper and "easy" baby!  Not sure I can survive life with three otherwise! I have been trying to catch up on the stuff that just seems like it will be harder with a newborn...photos caught up, closets organized, rooms deep cleaned (nesting, anyone?)...and also preparing for the baby's arrival.  I've just about overflowed the freezer with prepared meals for those days when it's just a little too crazy, gone a little overboard stocking up on household products in anticipation of it being harder to run errands, gotten all the baby stuff out, washed, and put away, and set up the nursery again.  My parents arrive on Saturday for help with the big kids while we're in the hospital and the days following.  So, all bases are covered!  I've been having a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions, but nothing regular...just enough to make me pause and wonder at what point I need to call Daniel at work to make sure we don't end up having this baby at home! Here's some pictures of the nursery:




We haven't decided on a name yet, but have a short list to pick from once she's born.  I guess from this point on, it's just a waiting game until Baby #3 decides to make her entry into the world...come meet your mama, baby girl!




Friday, April 22, 2011

More to love about spring

...so, I think I'm all caught up after a major blogging session (see posts below)...one more thing off the "To Do Before Baby Comes" list...

So, I leave you with a few more spring pictures...

First outing with new rain boots

My garden is growing like crazy...time to pick the beans already!
Getting my artsy on!  The kids are great ages for the beach this year - such a blast!
Josh and Ezekiel (or Freakiel as Brielle very fondly calls him)

Playing rough and other things 'boy'...

Daniel and Joshua have gotten some great father/son time lately - they've bonded over fishing, the Seminoles, baseball, a love of showering outdoors, and playing rough (Josh's newest favorite thing to do). I'm so grateful they've been able to spend great quality time together.  Daniel is such a great daddy and it seems to be making a difference in Josh already!

This whole playing rough thing is stressful for me as we try to encourage him to be a 'wild at heart' kind of little man, but figure out how to teach him that it's only okay to play rough with boys, and if they agree to it, and that it's still not okay to hurt the other person...
Josh's first fishing trip on daddy's boat - rewarded with a nice Red!  Amazing fish fry at the Kuder home that night including sweet tea, fried okra, and cheese grits!
Go 'Noles!
 


Joshua and Daniel have both enjoyed immensely the outdoor shower that Dan designed and built this month!  Isn't the cedar with the industrial look metal walls super cool looking?  Nice work, babe!
 And finally, both kids got in on helping daddy wash the cars...

I can't resist...I just think she looks so cute in little boy undies!  Perfect little princess-tomboy!

Just cute

like mommy!
My friend, Christine, made these aprons for the kids and they've enjoyed playing restaurant in them!
Joshua has learned to pedal his trike and with that has become obsessed again with biking.  It's fun watching him ride all over the house and down the sidewalk as far and as fast as we'll let him go!

Factoid

While looking through my pictures tonight I discovered that while I usually take around 100 pictures a month, I took only 27 in September, 16 in January, and 33 in February - not surprisingly, these are the months I was dealing with pregnancy related nausea...

Babymoon (of sorts)

We have struggled with figuring out good family vacations with toddlers...when I've looked into it, most of the suggestions have been to try the beach, but when you live at the beach already, what do you do?  After an exhausting, somewhat teary (both for me and Josh...Dan may have even shed a few) trip to the Smokies when Joshua was one, we've pretty much only traveled to see family or gone on trips without the kids.  The trips without the kids (Caribbean cruise, Colorado skiing, MN North Shore, staycations here in Jax) have been surprisingly frequent, so fun, and much needed for Dan and I to rest and remember who we are as a couple...but, I was anxious to do something fun as a family before Baby #3 came and we were back to babyland with its frequent naps and limited flexibility.

We decided to try a fun, resort hotel in Orlando for one night...keep it short, simple, and sweet!  The main requirement was a fun kiddie pool.  We were able to meet up with my friend, Kristin, who was visiting from Ohio, for lunch at the Rainforest Cafe and a stroll around Downtown Disney.  I guess Rainforest Cafe made quite the impression on Josh because he still talks about it every day when their (super annoying toucan) commercial comes on during Curious George.  Downtown Disney turned out to be the perfect amount of Disney for the kids.  I am soooo glad we didn't try to do a theme park!  We walked around, saw a statue of Mickey Mouse (which I was surprised the kids cared about because we don't have a lot of Disney stuff and haven't watched TV or movies), and best of all in Josh's book, got to go on a free pontoon boat ride across the lagoon there.
We met Baby Jackson for the first time - I LOVED how smiley he was!
This one just cracks me up!  Poor Joshy!
It was fun to see Kristin again and meet each others' kids...the last time I'd seen her was August 2007...funny thing is, I was about as pregnant then with Josh as I was this time - go figure!

Next we headed to the hotel to check out the pool, then ate delicious dinner at Pizzeria Uno (I LOVE and miss Chicago-style pizza), and headed to bed.  The next day we played some more at the pool and headed back to Jax around naptime.  A successful family get-away...maybe we'll shoot for two nights next time?

 


Big Kids' Room

Our three bedroom, 1200 sq. ft house is soon to have 5 people living under its roof and with that has come the need for some adjustments.  I feel no need to move to a bigger house...we love our house, it's super location, the Beaches community, the beach itself...and it's not like selling is a real option seeing as we bought near the height of the housing market.  Also, I feel like it's silly to say we NEED more space...most of the world lives with a lot more people in a lot less space!  (When I was in China, there were 8 girls in a room the size of a typical American dorm room.)  But, adding more people to a smallish house (by American standards) comes with some growing pains.  We can't save every sentimental thing we may want to, we can't store everything we think we might find a purpose for at a later date, the kids (and me too) are loud during the day making it impossible for Dan to sleep in after working a late shift (let alone an overnight shift!), the rooms have less "air" than I'd prefer and more piles...and most recently, bedrooms will need to be shared.

We have typically moved our newborns into their own room around 6 weeks old and feel like EVERYONE sleeps better that way.  My plan (which I've since learned may not work) was for Josh and Brielle to share a room for this next year, and then once Baby Girl is around a year old, to move the two girls into a room together.  Phase 1 of the plan started with purchasing a trundle bed and getting Josh adjusted to sleeping in a big boy bed.  Phase 2 was moving Brielle out of a crib and into the room with Josh, freeing up a room for the newborn.  I figured it was better to get Josh and Brielle adjusted to sleeping together before I was also dealing with intense sleep deprivation...so, this winter we started working on transitioning them to one room.  (We've since given up and moved Brielle back to her crib in the nursery, so time will tell what happens next once Baby Girl comes on the scene!)

Anyway, all this to say...I wanted to redo Josh's room to be somewhat gender neutral, but without spending a lot of money (or painting the blue walls!) since I intend to do something completely different in a year and didn't want to have invested money in certain colors/patterns...so, below is the result of my attempt at a thrifty room for a boy and girl to share...not quite what I had envisioned, but it will have to do (for now!)...I'll just be saving my ideas/energy/budget for when we decide on a more permanent arrangement and perhaps realize more of my vision for the kids' rooms then!
Thanks to mom for sewing some groovy curtains

Brielle's 1st Haircut

Brielle got her first haircut ever on March 4th - at age 27 months!  My babies just don't start to grow much hair until they hit 1 year old, so it takes a while to need a trim.  She did a great job holding still for the hair stylist and looks cute with her new bangs and less of a mullet in the back!
Before
After


Joshua also got a cut while we were there.  We went bold and cut off his long, surfer dude locks for a cooler start to the hot weather season.  He's happy that he can now have a "spike" like Daddy!

Mom and Dad to the rescue (again)

My mom and dad were here for about six weeks this winter.  As always, it was great to see them and get spoiled by all their help...and they came just in time because I experienced third trimester "morning sickness" (which is apparently fairly common).  For most of the time they were here I was feeling under the weather - as though I was coming down with the flu.  That made the extra sets of hands and company that much more of a Godsend!

I was thinking that we didn't DO a lot while they were here, but when I started making a list, it ended up to be quite a bit...potty training Brielle, buying and installing new kitchen appliances, a quick late night trip for just me and Dan to Mark's Oyster Roast in Orlando, an overnight staycation for just the two of us at the Sawgrass Marriott, shopping trips with mom for baby supplies and stuff to spruce up the house, buying and putting together a shed, planting the garden, haircuts for the kids (Brielle's first), hosting a Super Bowl party, an afternoon at the spa getting pedicures, kid-free meals with mom and dad at Bonefish Grill and Ocean 619, moving the kids into the same room and redecorating it as we prepare for the baby, not to mention, lots of playing, reading, and eating!

The men watching the Super Bowl!  Daniel grilled wings on his new Big Green Egg Grill...delish!
The girls stayed close to the food table, of course!

Big helper loading stuff in the new shed
Tata and Papa took them on a special outing to meet Elmo

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Sweet Southern Comfort

I love, love, love the smell of jasmine and seeing it blooming like crazy all around town...
Spring is a great time of year!