Telling the girls

I wish I would have recorded it.  Pumpkin has made it known, multiple times, she ONLY wants a girl. Honey is just so indifferent. 

The Hubs woke up with them and he said Pumpkin asked about the baby first thing in the morning   I ran in and sat at the kitchen table and told them… They are having another brother! 

Pumpkin, much to my surprise, squealed and was laughing with the biggest smile on her face. 

Then Honey chimes in, “NO! I don’t want a brother.  I only want a sister.” I said, “well that’s too bad, because you are getting a brother.”  We practiced saying his name and it’s super easy for them to say.  I ran in and got my camera and then Pumpkin joined Honey’s sister train.  I showed them pictures of the ultrasound and they are SOOO excited for November to get here.  I think they thought we were coming home with a baby last night.  This is the first time they actually have to wait a normal amount of time before a baby arrives.  They also truly seem to understand that our baby is in Bmom’s belly.  

I am still in shock and I can’t believe it.  I was so certain he was a she.  I am SOO excited that Bear will have a brother.  I am imagining all of the boys verses girls fights in my head.  Remind me while it’s going on about how excited I was for that. 

 

And Baby Boy to Be will officially be called Koala.  Bmom called him that during the ultrasound and I thought it was perfect. 

Exciting news!

We were supposed to find out the sex over the weekend, but Bdad had to go to work.

I obviously understood, but I was also obviously sad.  I was REALLY excited.  I wasn’t sure when we would find time to reschedule. We took it day by day and finally got in on an evening appointment, today!

(yes, a picture of a picture)

I know how blessed we are to have Bmom and Bdad in our lives. We obviously didn’t get to experience Bear’s pregnancy with them.  And I was so nervous to miss out on this one too.  Luckily, they are the best and wanted to include us in something so huge. They were so sweet and kept saying things to include us. I didn’t realize our package was only 15 minutes, but the technician kept us in there for 25 minutes and that was SOOO nice.  Bmom told me to come sit right next to her, which I assumed she wanted Bdad to sit there. My heart exploded then.  (Warning my heart exploded a lot during this).  Then when she pulled up the screen we could tell immediately…

She got more angles to indeed confirm what we saw. Bmom and I were in SHOCK! We were CERTAIN it was a girl. I think I spent the next 5 minutes in total disbelief. Not that we wanted one sex or the other, but this pregnancy is SO different from Bear’s.  The ONLY doubt I had was because she was carrying low. Bdad was crying and I felt so awful and so privileged.  He was so sweet during it.  Bmom was wonderful, as always, saying super supportive things like, “I’m so happy he will have a brother” etc.  I really don’t know how we got so lucky.  I can’t imagine anyone else in our family besides them. Everything was just perfect.  Baby (Koala), kept his hand blocking his face for the most part, so Bmom got up and jumped around and he moved a little.  We saw his little fingers wiggling and again my heart exploded. Everything about it was perfect.  And I’m so glad we have Bmom and Bdad.  I love them so much and am eternally grateful. They really are a perfect match.  <3

Vacation Day 5

Bear was having a hard time sleeping so we were happy to co-sleep with him during the trip.  I tried to convince The Hubs we should just do it all the time, he wasn’t having it.

Our trip to Florida was a pretty rainy one. All of the locals kept telling us that they were going to have a hurricane this year.   We had two fun things planned pre-heartattack. Since my SIL and MIL were in the hospital most of the time it was nice to get away and take our, specifically the girls, minds off things. So, we drove a couple of hours in, totally got confused about the tolls, and went on an everglades tour.

I cannot tell how over exposed my pictures are in the sun.  It’s a true tragedy.

Someone offered to take our family pictures after I took theirs.  It was a major miss. hahah

I am so glad we went. It wasn’t raining there, but it was still super windy and a little chilly.  That meant that the alligators weren’t out.

The girls loved the earplugs.  They tried really hard to keep them in.

We got super lucky.  Two dumb gators didn’t get the memo, and popped their heads out.  Nobody else in the day got to see any, so we were pretty lucky. Can you see them?

After the airboat ride, we went to the “zoo” part.  It was pretty sad and the large animals were not in cages big enough.

This snake LOVED (wanted to eat) Honey.  Every time she ran back to it, it climbed the cage.

We let them hold them.  Look at Honey. hahah

  

We took this picture specifically for Bmom and Bdad.  We are trying to find a day we can all go to find out the sex of baby #4!

This lady loves the water.  Have I said that before?

And when we went to bed, this is what I see.  <3

Vacation day 4

 

 

Bear and I woke up and sat on the balcony while we waited for everyone else to wake up.  This baby LOVES his sleep.  And he has the best “just woke up” face.

 

We went straight to the beach for a morning full of fun.

The Hubs took Bear up to the room for his nap while he did some homework.

Mimi and my SIL came down with The Hubs and Bear and we had some awesome pool time.

Bear had some super fun splashing around.

Now, at this point, grandpa was still feeling awful.  They called the ambulance and it turns out he had a heart attack.  Before they could get there we left with the girls.  We did NOT want them to see what was going on.  He had 3 stints and a balloon put in.  He was feeling pretty awful for a while.  He got pneumonia, and they thought the stints weren’t working.  Blah.  It was an awful way to start the vacation.  Thankfully, he is now out of the hospital (in real time, not my blog is backed up turnaround time).  He hasn’t gotten the all clear to come home, so they are still down there.  He was released and then resubmitted.  But now all looks great, they just need the official all clear to make the LONG journey home.  They will have to stop every couple of hours so he can stretch his legs.

So, that was obviously, a super bummer.  But we went out and found a restaurant.  Mimi, ever so thoughtful, gave us her card for the week, knowing we couldn’t have done this vacation without them.  Seriously, how thoughtful.

I do not like to eat at chain restaurants while on vacation.  Lets support the mom and pops places that need tourists to survive.

This place was so pretty and the mosaic went from outside to in. Also, I took the girls to the bathroom and walked into the mens room.  I was so confused about the layout, and was rounding the corner when we saw a man peeing. He laughed and said, “wrong room”.  When I get overly emotional I cry or I laugh.  So, I laughed.  Hard.  The girls were very confused.

A summer must have for me, are nautical themed outfits.  ALL of the old people in the restaurant were talking about how they had a dress like that every summer when they were little.  Everyone went on and on about them. It was pretty sweet.

I tried to get a group shot.  This is what I got. (and no, Bear’s hair was never styled. It is the wind)

I love this picture of Bear with the sea spray coming up.

Bear and Poppa blowing raspberries

Honey thinking she is the funniest thing on earth, running in the ocean with her dress on.

Don’t forget…

Go to Wendy’s and get yourself a Frosty (or 15)

 

Go to Wendy’s

This weekend, proceeds from every Frosty sold at Wendy’s goes towards finding homes for waiting children in the foster care system.  http://www.davethomasfoundation.org/   The Dave Thomas Foundation is amazing and the work they do it truly needed.   I know we will be heading to Wendy’s multiple times this weekend.  The girls are in for lots of special treats.

 

 

Vacation day 3

 

 

We got to West Palm Beach early, before checkin. So we went straight to the beach and waited for Mimi, Grandpa, and The Hubs sister to get there.  The beach was littered with shells, so the girls had fun looking for treasures.

My in laws got there and came straight down and met us. The kids were super excited.

Since we weren’t checking in, naps on the beach were in order.  I don’t think anyone can complain about napping and being able to listen to the waves.

Finally we got in our room and it was perfect.  The In Laws had a two bedroom suit and the girls slept with them.  Bear slept in his pack n play (some of the time) with us.  I was a little sad to not have the girls with us.  But when we were able to sleep in the next morning, I was over that.

Vacation day 2

I just need to show you a couple of pictures of my cousin’s house.  If this house was in our city, I would buy it in a heartbeat.  I LOVED everything about it.  It was only a couple of minutes from the beach, 4 bedrooms, sunroom, just everything about it is perfect.  And can we please talk about those sinks! I am majorly in love with pottery and I think the sinks they have in their house needs to happen in my home.  I wish I would have taken a picture of the fish sink.  Ugh, I loved it. 

ahhahahah Nerd alert.  He Hated the glasses.  Well, he loved chewing on them.

Look at this sweet girl.  Can you tell how happy she is?

Well, except in this picture.

There were people here catching HUGE crab for a cookout.  The hubs found a crab… not one to eat.

I think Pumpkin was channeling her inner mermaid.

I saw on P*ntrest, that baby powder unsticks the sand.  I super helpful hint, they must be dry for this to work. ahahahhaha

We went back to my cousins and tried to let The Hubs rest before we left for the next leg of the trip.

A super thank you to my sweet cousins for letting us stay in their beautiful home! I am sorry for the mess we left in the girls room.  But I can’t image our trip being as successful if it wasn’t for your generosity.  We love you, our next trip, you better be in town.  hahaha

Vacation- day 1

My totally amazing in laws took us on vacation.  We had to get down there, and they took care of the rest.  We are so blessed. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have been able to go on vacation again this year, since we have to pay for another adoption this year. Seriously, I know what a blessing they are. But man did we win the grandparent lottery.

From our vacation TWO years ago (nobody should wait two years to go on vacation ahahahah) we learned night driving is the way to go.  Last time it took us 10 hours to get out of a state that should have only taken us 4.  It was then we vowed to ONLY night drive.  My in laws took us to West Palm Beach, specifically, Singer Island. And that is a LONG car ride from where we live.  So we knew we would have to break up the trip.

 

This totally adorable baby traveled like a champ.  He woke up whenever we stopped.  But he never put up a fight when we buckled him back in his carseat.

Since getting a hotel for the night was out of our budgeting plan (since we had none. haha), we made it to Pensacola, FL and spent a couple of days there.  Luckily for us, my cousin just moved down there and we could stay at his house.  Unluckily for us, they were up in our city visiting his family so we didn’t get to see them.  But we had the house to ourselves, which was great.  The Hubs and I were able to plop them in front of the tv while we slept from our drive.

Ounce we woke up, we went straight to the beach.

Bear says, “Oh no you didn’t! PICK ME UP!”

Then he started eating the sand, and he was one happy baby.

If it wasn’t Bear’s first trip to the beach I would probably have only taken pictures of Honey.  She is in her element here.  She LOVES the ocean.  It’s really the only thing she truly loves.  I could tell you a list a mile wide of things Pumpkin and Bear love.  But Honey is a hard one.  She is so easy to please.  So happy in any situation.  But this, this is her world.

I can’t wait to have our complete family.  Next time we are on the sand, looking at those pictures will make me so happy.  My dreams will have become my reality. All of my struggles will be a distant memory.  And my fears will be gone while I look at my four.

It was perfect.

My favorite park

I am so excited that it’s “that time of year” again.  Where we are outside constantly with a never ending amount of stuff to do.  My best friend and I met up at my favorite park.  We had lunch next to some super classy people (joke.  They left their infant unattended for hours. We didn’t know it was in there until it started screaming and about 15 minutes later they came and checked on her).  But I really do love this place.

For lunch Bear sucked on an orange.

Bear’s best friend, baby E, got his first taste of watermelon.  Isn’t he so beautiful! I love him!!

And these girls barely came back over to us.  They were too busy running here and there.

Let’s talk about how happy that girl in the pink bathing suit made me when I uploaded this picture.

Our city is filled with amazingly beautiful architecture. And I just love that this is the backdrop.

Bear, it’s summer.  Get over it and have fun.

Bear has been playing with Pumpkin’s hair, or really anyone’s, nonstop.

Pumpkin has been doing stuff like this when I ask her to smile.  Which in turn, makes me smile.

I love this lady so much.  And I’m so happy that her kids are the same age as mine.

And we’ve come to the realization Bear may not be as good as we thought.  He is good for momma and poppa. But maybe that’s just because he loves us that much.  He may be a little bit of a stinker for everyone else. I’m ok with that. He started crying when my BFF took something away, which then made her son cry.

Oh you sweet baby.  I love you.  <3