It's A Boy -- Again!

As you read a few months ago, we are expecting Baby #3 in May. I convinced Kevin to find out the gender with this one (which we didn't with the first two because we both liked the surprise of finding out in the delivery room.) After having two boys already, I was anxious for the possibility of having a girl. All the pink and ruffles and lace and frills are so cute. But, I didn't have any of that stuff. So, if this was a girl, I wanted to know so that I could get some of that in time for her arrival.

Well, the day of the ultrasound came and I was excited. I would know if I was finally getting my daughter or if I was going to be blessed with another boy. The doctor waved his magic (ultrasound) wand and showed us the head and the face and the stomach.

If you look carefully, the baby is on its side with its forehead on the left side of the picture. The eyes are on either side of the white mass (the nose) in the middle of the oval that is the head. At the bottom of the picture is an arm with the abdomen at the very right edge of the ultrasound.

Then the doctor waves his magic wand and shows us the baby's bottom and legs.

And right in the middle of the opening between the legs is proof that I am carrying yet another son. It might be hard for you ultrasound novices to see, but after two separate angles, there is no doubt in the doctor's, or Daddy's, mind that these are the first photos of our baby BOY.

So, as we are in the car in the pouring rain leaving the doctor's office, Kevin's asking if I'm fine. Knowing I'm disappointed, he does everything he can to make jokes and lighten the mood. Sure, I'm disappointed, but I'm really okay with it. I think I knew it was a boy all along, but I was still hoping. I don't know if it's so much being the only female in the house or knowing that I only have one more chance at a girl (because we are planning on a total of four children) or knowing that we have no boy names that we like. We have lots of girl names to choose from, but no boy names. So, on the way to pick up Liam at the bus stop, I make him take me to Half Price Books to pick up a baby name book. We've got to start somewhere.

I think the best reaction of all (at least the funniest) came from veteran Big Brother Liam. I had bought a bib that was blue and said "I'm the Little Brother" (I had also bought a "little sister" one just in case it went the other way) to give to Liam and Ben to share the news. Liam takes the bib out of the gift bag, sees the blue, reads the writing and says, "Another brother? Darn it!" with a definite tone of disappointment. I think having a little brother was old news; he'd already done that once. He wanted a little sister. He's okay about it now, but I just had to laugh. We picked Ben up at Kevin's parents, who were babysitting while we were at the doctor, and he caught onto the significance of the blue right away and was totally excited. Both of them can't wait to meet their little brother. We just know that they won't be naming him. Liam's first suggestion? Mew--a character from Pokemon. I don't think so.

Later that night, Kevin came home from seeing a movie and going to the gym and he brought me flowers and a mushy card to make me feel better. It did. He knew just the right thing to do and say. What a guy!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year 2008! Yes, I realize we are 2 months into the new year, but as I said in my previous post, I'm way behind and trying to catch up.

Every year for the last 5 years or so, we have hosted New Year's Eve at our house. It's not a big bash or anything. Just a small gathering of family with no pressures for those without spouses, no need to find a fancy dress or pressure to get as "toasted" as you can before the big toast. I make a bunch of appetizers, we play some games with the adults, have games in a separate room for the kids, and ring in the new year. Here are some pics from this year's get-together.

Ben, Ander and Liam have a toast with their Sparkling Apple Juice.

RP, Kelly and Liam wish each other Happy New Year!


In the living room are Sean, Becky, Carrie, Dan and Libby playing a fun game that Becky introduced to us called "LOSER."

Over in the dining room Kevin, Kelly, Nikki and Josh play euchre. Nikki and Josh are new additions to our celebration this year. It's nice to have another couple who is willing to join in on the fun.

As usual, Kevin's dad is asleep with a book on his lap way before midnight.

It was a bit disappointing this year that my Mom and Dad couldn't make it down. Dad has to work on New Year's Eve and then open the store on New Year's Day. Although Columbus is only an hour away from Mansfield, it's become difficult for them to make the trip twice in one night, especially when the return trip is in the early morning hours. Maybe one of these years his bosses will come to their senses and not be open on New Year's Day.

Holiday Traditions

Okay, I realize that the date of this post and the title are kind of opposites. As I was downloading pictures tonight, it hit me that I hadn't posted anything in months. So, as I'm looking at pictures from the last couple of months, I decided to make a couple of quick little entries. The first one is about Holiday Traditions. Well, actually Christmas traditions to be exact.

For the last couple of years, we've been getting our Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving. But this year Kevin didn't want to leave the house on the crazy shopping frenzy day that is the day after Thanksgiving. So, seeing as how we get our fresh tree from his Uncle's Christmas Tree Farm, and Thanksgiving dinner was at their house this year, we decided to head to their house early to cut down our tree. We like the variety known as Canaan firs. The branches are really compact and the needles are pretty soft, even as we're un-decorating and taking it down.

Here are some pics of the tree as it's being cut down and after it's decorated.

We also have some family Christmas pictures.

This one of the 4 of us in front of our tree is taken using my tripod.

This one of Santa (Daddy in costume) with Liam, Ben, and Sadie is at PetSmart where Kevin volunteers for a shift to help out the rescue organization that Kelly works with, through which we adopted Sadie.




The next few pictures are just some shots of our various Christmas traditions:

Liam, Ben, and Daddy decorating Christmas cookies that Daddy baked and made the icing for (from scratch I might add.)

Christmas Eve is spent in Mansfield with the English side of the family. First, the Christmas Eve pageant at church, then opening presents at Nana and Papa's with all the kids.

All the grandkids look so sweet, don't they? These are the last few moments of calm before they all tear into the many packages waiting for them. In the back are Libby, Brianna, and Liam and in the front are Ander and Ben.

Then, we drive home to Columbus where we put out Reindeer Food, Milk & Cookies for Santa (don't forget carrots for the reindeer!), put the Santa Key on the door, and off to bed!

Christmas morning brings presents from Santa and Mommy & Daddy.

Then Grammy, Papa, Kelly, RP, Great Grammy, and Bev join us for more presents and breakfast.

After a little time spent relaxing, playing with toys, and preparing our contribution to Christmas dinner, we head to Kelly's house for more presents with Jesse, June, Tracy, Ike, Nikki and Josh and Christmas dinner. By the end of the day, we are exhausted.

A Very Busy Fall - Leading to an Even Busier Spring

As is typical in Ohio, we once again went pretty much straight from Summer into Winter. We had a week or so of fall-like weather, marked mostly by the beautiful colors of the changing leaves. As I began to write this, we were on our first day of spitting snow turning into rain. I was nearing the end of the ever-joyful Parent-Teacher Conference week. I work much longer hours during this week, not only in preparation for conference, but actually holding them; and in the week following Thanksgiving, in which I have to get Progress Reports written. In the past, we've gotten the Friday following conferences as a comp day for all the extra hours we spend at school in the evenings actually holding our conferences. However, this year we voted to work on Friday and get the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off. Now that I have finally gotten to finishing this entry, I can tell you that it was nice to have that 5-day weekend to get me through Progress Report week.

So, speaking of Thanksgiving, this year we have one more thing to be Thankful for. We are expecting Baby #3, with a due date of May 16th. (That's right Mark and Leah, we're due shortly after you!!!) We had planned to start trying at the beginning of the fall and, sure enough, in spite of my advancing years (ha ha!) we got pregnant right away. Of course the grandparents were totally thrilled (they found out on Halloween.) But, the most excited were the big brothers.

Ben was with us at the initial ultrasound and was fascinated to see his little brother or sister kicking around on the monitor. Our wonderful doctor printed out an ultrasound picture for each boy to have of his very own. Liam was still at school during the appointment, so I got a card that said, "Congratulations on your new baby!" and gave it to him when he got home. He opened the card, read it, his eyes got wide and he exclaimed, "We're going to have a new baby?!" He then proceeded to clutch the card and ultrasound picture to his chest and yell, "Yes, yes, yes, yes!" Think he was excited?

Ben and Liam show off the first picture of their new baby brother or sister.

Liam has been through this whole "new baby" thing before when we were pregnant with Ben, but since he was less than two at the time, he doesn't really remember much about it. Ben is being an absolute doll. I'll come home from work and he'll say, "How is your baby Mommy?" and pat me on the belly. And he's very careful not to do anything that might hurt the baby. When he gives me hugs, he barely puts his arms around me for fear of crushing the baby. It's quite cute.

Not much is different about being pregnant with #3 than with #1 and #2, except that I'm not chasing after a toddler this time and I'm about 30 pounds lighter to begin with on this one. What I'd forgotten is how quickly you start to show once you've already been pregnant. Wow, do those stomach muscles and skin remember what to do. I started showing by 10 weeks or so. We were going to try to wait for Thanksgiving to tell the family (just to make sure we were out of the woods and everything) but Kevin looked at me one day before Halloween and said, "You're not going to be able to wait till Thanksgiving." I totally looked pregnant. So, by Thanksgiving everyone had been told and I could openly release my breath and let my belly all hang out.

GREAT Summer - Part 2 - The Cruise

Time has just flown by since the last time I posted to my blog. I've had a couple of requests for more on the rest of our summer vacation, so here it is. Just a warning: it's quite long because I've put in a lot of detail and has a lot of pictures.

THE CRUISE

On August 5, we boarded the Carnival Conquest for seven days of rest, relaxation and fun. We left from Galveston, Texas headed for Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Mexico. Kevin and I had been on a cruise before the boys were born, but Liam and Ben had never been on a cruise. When we booked the cruise, we learned that Carnival had a kids' program called Camp Carnival. We weren't sure how into it the boys would be, but we were soon pleasantly surprised. From the moment the boys found out about all the programs offered as well as the gigantic water slide, they couldn't wait to get to the ship.

The Carnival Conquest

One of the benefits of traveling as a family of four is the Family Stateroom. Not only did we have floor to ceiling windows, but we had a bed large enough for Kevin and me...

...and bunk beds for Liam and Ben. This thrilled them beyond belief.

Our first day on board was spent exploring the ship and learning about all that was being offered to us on our brief stay. There are a lot of people out there who need to have tons of activities to occupy their day, to feel like they've gotten their money's worth. Nope, I feel like I've gotten my money's worth when I can do exactly what I want to do, when I want to do it. Don't get me wrong, there were more activities on board the ship than I could even dream of doing. But, the only things that really interested me were sleeping in, laying by the pool reading a good book, and heading to the beach when we got into a port.

The morning of our first full day, Camp Carnival was open for the kids. We took Liam and Ben up (it was directly above our stateroom, only one floor up) and signed them into their respective playrooms. There was a room for kids ages 2-5 and one for kids ages 6-8. They didn't get to be together, but that didn't bother them. Once you dropped the kids off, you had to come back and get them at noon, then you could drop them off again from 2-5. If they wanted, they could join the youth staff for dinner at 5:45 and then stay until 10:00. Anything beyond 10:00 was babysitting and charged extra. We had to practically drag them out every day.

The boys joined us for dinner on our very first night on board (before Camp Carnival was open) and then not again for the rest of the cruise. They wanted to be with the rest of the kids. Kevin makes fun of me because this upset me at first. But, he made a good point. He said, "This is their vacation too. They should be able to do what they want to do and have fun." That finally got through to me and we enjoyed our dinners for two every night after that.

One of the other things the boys were looking forward to was the water slide. It was so cool. They went down it a few times the first couple of days, but the fact that the water on the slide and in the pools was sea water kind of turned them off from it. Whenever they got water up their nose or in their mouth, it really bothered them. So, they were happy to just spend most of their time playing in Camp Carnival.

The huge water slide that the boys couldn't wait to experience.

Liam makes it to the bottom of the slide.

Ben heads down the water slide.

Even Kevin got in on the action, and made a big splash!

In Camp Carnival, they had regularly scheduled activities published in a newsletter for the kids. They had video games, crafts, scavenger hunts, decorating a backpack, decorating a t-shirt. They were always busy and had lots of fun. They absolutely loved the Youth Staff, and based on one autograph on Liam's t-shirt, the feeling was mutual. (One of his counselors signed, "To the best boy in the world!") I think the time that they had in Camp Carnival made it all worth it.

Ben with his favorite counselor, Zulfiyah ("Sophie")

Liam with two of his favorite counselors, Olga and Regina.

Liam in the kids' disco dancing with "Funship Freddy". He's in the white t-shirt in the middle of the picture, right in front of the boy all in black.

Liam with a bunch of the other kids in Camp Carnival.

Ben and Liam on Pirate Day.

Our first port was Montego Bay, Jamaica. The boys did not want to get off the ship; they just wanted to stay in Camp Carnival all day. But, they reluctantly got off the ship and went into Jamaica far enough to take a picture and get their passports stamped (after all we went through to get them in time for the cruise, I was going to make sure we got at least one stamp.) They complained about how hot is was and that they didn't want to walk around. So, after a very brief stay, we took them back to Camp Carnival.

Montego Bay, Jamaica

Montego Bay, Jamaica

Kevin, Carolyn, Ben and Liam on our brief visit in Jamaica.

After lunch and depositing the boys back in Camp Carnival, Kevin and I headed back to see more of Jamaica. Boy, was that scary. The minute we stepped out of the main building of the port, women started coming up to us wanting to show us their crafts and their shops. It was incredibly intimidating. I got a few braids, typical of Jamaica, then we walked into a few shops looking for a charm for my charm bracelet and some t-shirts for the boys. We found a t-shirt of Spiderman with dredlocks for Liam that said "Spidermon" and one for Ben of Spongebob Squarepants with dredlocks on a beach.

Each night, while we were at dinner, our room steward turned down our beds, left the Carnival Caper news for the next day, and made animals out of towels for the boys. They loved coming back to the room each night to see what animal had been left for then. Then, they took great pleasure in tearing it apart. It was hysterical to watch.

Ben and Liam found cookies with their dog towel animal.

A swan

A frog

Our second port was Grand Cayman. We had booked a shore excursion for the whole family this day. It was a bus ride to Seven Mile Beach where we could play in the sand and the water for a few hours. We had a beautiful day for it. The water was clear and warm and we had a great time. We even hunted for seashells and found lots of coral.

Ben and Liam ready for a fun day at the beach in Grand Cayman.

Kevin allowed himself to be buried in the sand by Liam and Ben.

The beautiful clear water of Grand Cayman. What a view to enjoy for the day.

Ben, Carolyn, Kevin and Liam enjoy the crystal clear water of Grand Cayman.

Each night at dinner, we were entertained by our waitstaff. Just before serving dessert, they put on music and funny hats and danced around the dining room. On a couple of occasions, they even got us up to dance too. Our waiter Sherwin and our assistant waiter, Ardana took very good care of us.

Carolyn gets pulled into the nightly entertainment with Ardana.

Kevin gets his own special "hat" from Sherwin.

Kevin and Carolyn with our wait staff, Ardana and Sherwin.

Our last port was Cozumel, Mexico. We decided to just leave the boys where they wanted to be, Camp Carnival, while Kevin and I took an excursion into Mexico. We booked the "Twister" activity. It is a speedboat that does 360 degree turns and then takes us to a private beach, Isla Pasion - Passion Island. I was a bit nervous about it at first. The idea of doing complete turns in a speedboat made me a little nervous. But, like anything adventurous, once Kevin drags me into it, I have a total blast. This was so much fun!

The excursion we booked included the boat ride to and from the island, 3 hours on the island, and unlimited soda. They had beach chairs and hammocks for us to enjoy as well. While we were waiting to board the tour, we met a nice couple, Ashley and Mike from Colorado. They were passengers on another ship, but had the same tour opportunities as we did. However, on this tour, they paid for a buffet and open bar.

When we got to the island, Kevin chose to hang out in a hammock in the shade and I went down by the beach and laid in a beach chair in the sun. After a little while, I went up to the hammocks too. Kevin took a quick trip down to the water to cool off. On his way back to me he met another couple and struck up a conversation. Turns out that the island we were on was where they film the Corona beer commercials. The couple Kevin met was from the ship that got the open bar and gave us a couple of Coronas. So, we were incredibly cheesy and re-created a couple of the Corona ads.

As we headed back to the boat to go back to our ship, we met up with Mike and Ashley again. She told us that we should have hung out with them and they would have kept us in Coronas all day! Next thing we knew, she sent Mike back to the bar for four more Coronas. He raced down the beach and back again to get us all a beer before we had to get back on the boat again. We had a great time.

The beach of Isla Pasion with the water in the distance.

Kevin and Carolyn on the shoreline of Isla Pasion.

Kevin in his hammock re-creating the Corona ad.

Carolyn in her beach chair re-enacting a Corona ad.

After returning from our excursion, it was almost time to head back to reality. We had a great time on our cruise and can't wait until we can go again. The boys were happy that they got to spend seven uninterrupted days with us as well as all of the activities they did and friends they made in Camp Carnival.

The debarkation process was tiring to say the least. By the end of the cruise, we didn't have any cash left for a porter, so we had to carry all of our bags ourselves. The lines were long and winding as well as hot. I learned that our next trip needs to involve a lot less luggage.

We had originally thought we would make some stops on the way home, but by the time we had gone to San Diego, Texas, and the cruise, we were ready to go straight home. Besides, I had to be back at work just a few short days later and wanted some time to unwind at home before getting back to it.

For the most part, summer is pretty boring and uneventful. But our road trips are well worth the wait we have to get to them.