I am Thankful

It is the Monday before Thanksgiving.  Where did this year go?  Thanksgiving is Thursday, just three measly days away.  I have a turkey defrosting in my refrigerator, and the rest of my refrigerator is stuffed with the ingredients for our Thanksgiving meal.

I'm not big into the name something you are thankful for everyday sensation taking over Facebook and social media.  I don't know if I could come up with 20 something truly meaningful things.  I would rather name a few that mean a great deal to me, so here I go.

1) I am thankful for the most fantastic husband I could ask for.  Andrew is my rock and keeps me level headed when I feel as though the world is caving in around me.  He is an awesome dad and always takes time out to play and be there for the kids.  He indulges my reading habit and doesn't complain when I have my nose buried in a book because I just can't put it down!  I am blessed he encourages me to stay home with the kids and doesn't complain when I call him up ready to kill a child on a bad day.

2)  I am thankful for the health of my kids.  It seems as thought this year has been the Year of the Surgery.  All three boys had surgery at some point, but nothing was life threatening.  It could have been so much worse.  Instead of dwelling on the expense or worrying about them going under the knife, I thank God all three were able to be fixed and are healthy growing boys.  I am especially thankful for the health of the little girl growing inside of me.

3)  I am thankful for the roof over my head and the food in my house.  So many people are not as lucky as my family has been.  We were able to sell our old house and move into a larger one to accommodate our growing family.  We are able to afford to put healthy food on the table and enough of it to feed the never ending 'Mom, I'm hungry' boys.

4)  I am thankful for three little boys who always make my days interesting, fun, difficult, happy, and hard all in one.  Although there are times my kids can act like assholes (yes, I just said that), my boys bring joy and happiness far more often.  The good days outnumber the bad days.  Getting to snuggle with a toddler, cuddle with a baby, or have one come up and give me a kiss on my boo boo to make me feel better, those moments will stay with me forever.  As hard as it is to stay home with them at times, I wouldn't change anything.

Those are the four most important things I am thankful for.

Now, I get to cook a large family meal which my kids will devour because they are eating anything and everything in sight.  And as of Friday, it will officially be the Christmas season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Girls are my unknown

Truth: I'm scared to death to have a girl.

I knew having children would change my life forever.  I wasn't wrong.  Nothing can prepare you for how much life changes when kids come along.  Nothing.

Family and co-workers told me things would change.  Life will never be the same.  I took everything with a grain of salt.  They had to be over exaggerating.  My life will change but it won't be that drastic.  Ha ha ha ha, the joke was on me.

And it's really funny to see someone else's life get turned upside down after they have kids as well.

My kids have brought much joy, frustration, confusion, and happiness all balled into three little boy packages.  Now, God has decided to grace me with the presence of girl.

Honestly, it scares the hell out of me.

I am not what you call a girly girl.  I never have been.  I was that girl playing football alongside the boys in elementary and middle school during recess instead of sitting on the sidelines using their Starter jackets (oh yeah, I went there) to keep warm.  I was the one who constantly got dirty, didn't mind playing fort or war games, and didn't wear a stitch of makeup until my mom forced me to when we moved to Texas.  Even then, I was not fond of this new thing forcing me to get up even earlier for school.

I had a ridiculous amount of odd/ugly years as a preteen/teenager.  I'm not sure I actually started looking like a female until around 18 when I went off to college.  I finally had my braces off.  I got rid of my glasses for contacts.  And the awful perm my mother made me get finally grew out enough to cut the last of it off.  My college girlfriends used to get onto me when I showed up in Puma shoes instead of girly flats.  Definitely more comfortable in my opinion.

I hate shopping, as in actually loathe the idea of going to a store, trying clothes on, and finding something that fits.  My husband forced me to go shopping for a new swimsuit a few years ago when he found out I hadn't bought a new one in about 10 years.  He was appalled I was still wearing it.  I was just impressed it still fit since I bought it in college.  And it isn't the first time something like that has happened.  I hang onto clothes until they are ridiculously threadbare or falling apart because I don't want to shop for something new.  Skirts are not aplenty in my closet.  I'm more comfortable in low rider jeans or cargo pants and a tank top.  The thought of shopping for hours on end makes my skin crawl.  Seriously, not a normal girl here.

After having three boys, girls are the unknown.  The unknown is unnerving.  I have known for a month, and I still have not mentally come to terms with having a girl.  The pink, the dresses, and the frills just freak me out.  I remember my mom trying to dress me in ruffles and frills when I was 3 and 4 years old.  I vividly remember telling her I don't like them and refusing to wear them.  I still don't wear them, and I'm supposed to be excited about putting them on my baby girl.  I just cannot mentally comprehend it.

So when you ask me 'Are you excited about having a girl?!' with your enthusiastic and optimistic voice, do not expect a 'Hell yea!' from me.  Instead, I usually give a little shoulder shrug and say something more along the lines of 'It will be different.'  Imagine the amount of crazy stares I get from people after that answer.

Yes, I'm not prepared for a girl.  I still haven't wrapped my mind around the concept.  I'm sure I will love her just as much as my three boys.  There's no doubt I will love her.  The unknown is scary, and the unknown to me is having a little girl.

Touch a Truck

The weekend before the big move, we took the boys to Touch a Truck.  It's an event held by the city where big trucks are brought into the park, and kids can climb into them, honk the horn, and just be kids.  The boys loved climbing in the trucks and pretending to drive them!

Sawyer wanted to make sure he got in on the action too.

All my boys enjoying the Fire Truck.

Cullen is driving the PARD bus I used to drive when I worked there.  Little irony :)

Cullen's Birthday and Halloween Pictures

Andrew found the cord for my camera!  It is probably unhealthy how excited I was, but hey, pictures!

A couple of pictures from Cullen's birthday.

Cullen was super excited about his Gotham City Jail and Batman from Uncle Matt.  Of course, he wouldn't put
it down so I could get his entire face, but he was definitely smiling.

Halloween pictures.  We took the boys to Fall Fun Festival in the morning, then Andrew took them trick or treating in our neighborhood.  It was definitely a long day, and everyone slept well that night.

Ironman and Luke Skywalker

Fall Fun Festival 2013

Right before trick or treating

Sawyer's 1st Birthday

This was right before he stuck his finger in the flame.

My little boy, Sawyer, turned 1 year old on Sunday!

It does not feel as though a year has passed since I was taking Jackson and Cullen to Touch a Truck and giving birth a few hours later.  And what a year it has been!

Sawyer is growing up so quickly!  He's not walking yet, but I'm sure he'll be walking and running before his little sister arrives.

I baked cupcakes for his birthday.  Sawyer had his first cupcake and candle after dinner.  Andrew was video recording while I was taking pictures.  Sawyer decided to stick his finger in the candle flame while we were singing happy birthday.  He full on stuck his finger in the flame with a look of 'Oooh, that looks cool. I'm going to touch it!' on his face (see above).  Andrew was sitting right next to him and caught his finger right after he stuck it in the candle.  Sawyer never flinched or anything.  He tried to touch it one more time before Andrew just blew the candle out entirely as we were finishing our song.  Of course, Andrew caught all of this on video for nostalgic reasons.  And you can hear both of us in the background laughing after he did it.

Sawyer ate his entire cupcake!  This is a huge deal to Andrew and I because he is the first and only child of ours to eat the cupcake on his first birthday.  Jackson threw his on the ground in 3 seconds, and Cullen just smashed his cupcake.  Sawyer devoured his cupcake.  There was hardly a mess to clean up.  It was awesome!



Broken Arm Saga

Sunday, Cullen decided to jump off of the desk chair after Andrew specifically told him not to do it.  But of course, he's 3 so he jumped.

Queue the crying.

Cullen hurt his arm pretty badly from a bad landing.  He didn't land on his feet.  Instead, he landed on his elbow.  I did not witness this particular jump since I was in the kitchen.  I did heard the crying and screaming.

After looking him over, Andrew and I couldn't see anything too out of the ordinary.  Cullen had somewhat calmed down but was obviously still not happy.

I knew something was definitely not right when Cullen refused to take a nap.  He just couldn't calm himself down, so I went and looked at his arm again.  After reviewing it further, I discovered his elbow was pretty swollen, hard as a rock, and he did not want it to be touched at all.

Off to a Urgent Care clinic, we went.

It was determined Cullen had a broken humerus.  The doctor put him in a splint and sling and sent us home with a referral to see an orthopedic surgeon.

Tuesday morning, I took Cullen over to Texas Orthopedics for his appointment.  After another round of X-rays, it was determined he has a supracondylar fracture of the humerus and another vertical fracture in his humerus.

What does this mean?

It means Cullen is having surgery Friday morning to have pins and possible wires put into his arm after an arthrogram is done to determine the amount of damage to his humerus.  Because of his age, the Orthopedic Surgeon wants to make sure the bones are set correctly and not moving in order for his arm to heal correctly.  The arthrogram is done because children's bones are not calcified, and he can't see the breaks exactly.  As the Orthopedist told me, from his experience, pins will be necessary but he wants to be absolutely certain hence the arthrogram.

For now, Cullen is in a long arm cast.  After surgery, he'll be in another long arm cast for 4-6 weeks at the minimum.

Prayers are needed that everything goes well.  Thank you!

Moving and Cullen's 3rd Birthday!

We are officially in our new house!  As of Friday, October 25, we were renters at our old house.  Andrew and I closed on our new house Monday, October 28, and the moving process began.

We hired a local company to move us out of the old and into the new on Tuesday, October 29.  It was a long day, extreme emphasis on the long part.  The movers, 4 big guys and one large truck, arrived about 9:30am.  I had done most of the packing over the past two months.  Yes, I did most of it.  I have become extremely efficient at packing and moving over the years.  Andrew was able to move the stuff we had put in storage into the garage, so the movers could move that as well.  The guys finished moving all of our stuff and left about 7pm.  Yes, long day.  It ended up taking two trips, but I do have to say the guys were excellent, and I would highly recommend them to anyone local.

The entire day was exhausting.  Being 21 weeks pregnant did not help with the fatigue, but I kept on going because things needed to be done.  We moved on a day the boys didn't have preschool.  I had three little kids who behaved beyond my expectations.  Of course, they tried to help and we had little missteps, but their behavior was more than I could have asked for.  We all collapsed into bed around 8:30 that night exhausted.

Cullen's 3rd birthday was on Tuesday, October 29 or moving day too.  Andrew and I felt really bad, but there was no avoiding it.  We were able to get some cupcakes and have a mini celebration after a late dinner.  Essentially, we moved his birthday to the next day.  We did presents and a whole hoopla at preschool.  I can't believe my little man is 3 already!  Time flies sometimes.  I have a few cute pictures of him blowing out his candles, but they are stuck on my camera until I can find the cord to download it onto the computer.  I'm sure it's in a box somewhere!

Cullen opened his presents Wednesday morning.  He was super excited about his presents.  Jackson was not as excited when he tried to take a toy and Cullen quickly told him, "No, these are my toys!"  Ah, sibling love.  Jackson tried to tattle on Cullen for not sharing.  Andrew and I shared a look of 'oh, kid you are talking to the wrong people.'  Jackson needs to learn sharing is not stealing his brother's toys when he wants to play with them and then get angry after Cullen takes them away again.  The joy of having siblings!

It was a long few days, but we trudged through.  All that is left is unpacking which we can take our time doing.

Baby Girl's Name

It was surprisingly easy for Andrew and I to pick a name for our little girl arriving next year.  Not only did we agree practically right away, but there was no agonizing over names.  Nor did we feel any obligation to name her after any family members on either side.  Sorry family but it was determined from the get go she would have my middle name.

What is the name, you ask?  It is...

Cassidy Marie

 

I have a lot of writing in draft right now.  I've had a lot going on as of late, and I am trying to get everything written down.  With the move, no computer, craziness of finding the computer, and all sorts of other stuff, I haven't had a chance to really write.  It is coming, but please be patient.