Pancakes and tarballs..and does she have all of her teeth?

Maggie and Katie in front of the swordfish.



So, one morning we crawled out of bed (okay, everyone else crawled outta bed, Aron and I were awake with Sophia at about 5 a.m., but whatev!) and we decided to go sit outside on the patio with Sophia. We would look at the birds, check out the water, and just stop watching Mickey Mouse ClubHouse (seriously, the Hot Dog song was wearing us out!) So, here we are having a relaxing time on the patio when Lovey is walking while pushing the footstool. She is standing by my chair and close to the edge, but am I alarmed, no! not at all. Then a millisecond later her sea legs kick in and she trips on the edge of the patio, not a problem until she caught herself with her precious little tiny baby teeth! Yes, the teeth that we have worked so hard on growing, rubbing the baby orajel all over, the hard moments I have spent brushing them, yes, those teeth broke the fall of a 25 pound Lovey! I picked her up immediately and held her against my chest saying "its okay, trying to smother her cries in my huge boobs (that probably made her cry more!). Then I pull her face back to check her out and her face and my upper body is covered with blood! It was horrible! I ran inside, Aron running after us, I was yelling,"her teeth, her teeth, Momma, shes lost all of her teeth!" Did I mention it was 715, and my family is on vacation! People are running out in their drawers and the sleep still in their eyes. It was a mess! Calm Momma and Daddy who have seen me and the boys with broken arms, wrists, noses, ect., checked her out, decided she bit her tounge, cleaned her up, and gave her a popsicle. She was fine, and still has her teeth. (Bonus, because we really cannot afford baby veniers right now!)




The next morning was not as exciting (okay, yes it was) we decided to all venture out to our most favorite breakfast hangout at the beach! Tacky Jacks. O-M-Goodness, I just got chills and heartburn just thinking about it! They will make you pancakes that are larger than your head, it is amazing!!





We love posing for photos berfore meals.

Seriously, where are my pancakes!?

The brothas

Me and Daddy (please excuse the hideous sight of my peek a boo bra, it totally ruins the father daughter glamour shot. He definately cannot put this on his office desk.

Uncle Richard trying to control the wee babe!

Sophia riding on the elephant (we were way more into this than she was)

The tarballs. Katie and Maggie went walking on the beach, and this is what they come back with. Tarballs! They looked so odd, like a weird hard ice cream mud sandwich. Please note, this is the only one that we saw the entire trip.

Love yal!

Caryn

Vacation, the first few days!

For the past few weeks, our family has been on vacation! Woo-Hoo! It was such a great time. We went to Orange Beach (this is in Alabama (down the way from Gulf Shores), and it was so beautiful! We were a little nervous because of an oil spill (you may have heard of it) that had happened, but we went ahead with our planned vacation. Yay!

Lovey and I went down a few days ahead of Aron (he came with the brothers), and I rode with Momma, Daddy, an'em (Kaite Grace and Mags). The 13 hour was very eventful, seeing as how I had to yak at every McDonald's from here to Little Rock. Yes, I became very familar with every Stop n Go, Come n Go, and Gas n Fill (I am not proud of this). So, the trip started a little rocky! (sorry that there are not any pictures).

We got to the beach and it was so nice. No smell of oil, no sight of oil, but the clean up crews were everywhere. There were definately not a lot of visitors, which was so sad. All of the beaches had double red flags, meaning that the water was closed/ health risk (if you swim in it you could possibly have another arm growing out of your head or your skin could fall off (okay, it did not say that, but I am thinking worst case scenerio), but FYI, that did not scare some people away, the water was filled with people. Shocking!! I was surprised! Would you swim in the water? Just curious?

It was really beautiful though. Until the twista came.

Seriously, have you ever seen such a thing, it was called a water spout, but I ran through the condo, waking people up from naps and interrupting bathroom breaks yelling "itsa twista", just a water spout. Whatever. It was so cool to watch.

Once the whole family arrived, all was good. We spent our days reading, playing Yahtzee, Balderdash, and laying in the sunshine. We did a lot of swimming, eating, and watching of ESPN (yuck). It was so fun to be with family. While we were there, we celebrated Momma and Daddy's 35th wedding anniversary.

The happy couple. We learned all about how they knew each other in jr high, my momma had another boyfriend (my dad wanted her to drop that zero and get with a hero) (those were my words not his), she would drive by his house and slouch down in the drivers seat (he never even noticed), when they finally began dating for about 17 years (exageration on my part), he kept asking her to marry him and she finally said yes! Yay! Then he gave her her ring (at a stop light). So romantic!! My daddy is so dreamy! I love their story, it is the sweetest, and they are the happiest couple!

This was the start to a beautiful vacation.

Caryn

Sob Story

This morning, I had to make a quick trip to Wal-Mart and it turned out to be one of the most emotional shopping extravaganzas I have ever had!

Some of you may know, but next week is my little Lovey's 1st birthday. I cannot believe that the time has just flown by. It has been such an incredible year, and Aron and I have survived it! Our girl seems happy and likes us quite a bit, so I think that we are doing an okay job (pat of the back). I have still not planned her birthday party, but I just started today, hopefully it will be a wondermous time. I know that I should have been preparing and sending out invites, but I work best under pressure!!



So, back to the story:


I enter Wal-Mart, with my legal pad list, yes every line had an item listed. The first stop was the toy section. We had a birthday party to attend for our buddy Cade (turned 2). Then I strolled through the card section, big mistake, HUGE! I was looking for the most exciting boy card, and all that caught my attention were the following:


My Little Pony
Strawberry Shortcake
Winnie the Pooh
Elmo
Sesame Street Babies
Toy Story Characters
All of these cards were for little girls, and they all had "1", First Birthday, To Our Sweet Girl, Happy Birthday.


I lost it. Yes, I wept in the card aisle. Is it possible that my baby is turning "1". Where has all of the time gone? It felt like just a week or so ago that I was holding a 7 pound baby, watching her sleep, loving the first moment she smiled! Ahh, my cup runeth over. She makes me so happy and proud. Now she will soon be 1!


I was just so overwhelmed. I stood in the aisle for about 10 minutes, crying. Then I walked to the party stuff, and cried when I saw they had napkins and plates that say "first birthday" and "1", so I proceeded to cry and by 7 packages of napkins and 8 packages of plates?? (hello, no party planned, no guests invited, but I have the mother load of paper products!

My baby is growing up. Please tell me I am not alone. Were you or are you emotional when your baby turns another year older?

I am sure that a lot of this is because I am pregnant. My hormones are crazy, and did I mention while crying I was glistening like a pig (please I am from the south, we do not sweat we glisten).

Love yal!

Caryn

Oh No, She Didn't!

Yesterday was our first appointment for our little sweetie-pie! I went alone to the doctor, and I will probably never do that again!!

So far, Dr. P says that all is good with me and the baby!

I got to hear the heart-beat (168)! Is that super fast? Does that mean it is a girl??

He said that I am measuring right at 11 weeks!! Woo-hoo!

He was not impressed with my weight gain! Since I found out I was pg, I have lost 7 pounds.
Food is so not my friend these days!! He suggested the BRAT diet (no, this does not mean bratwerst diet, bannanas,-rice-applesauce-toast). I gave it a whirl last night and lets just say I may never eat toast and applesauce again!! YIKES! Needless to say, I have 2 weeks before my next appointment, and he wants to see me pack on some pounds! Ideas, I am open to anything that has no smell and is not meat or smell like meat or look like meat!

Dr. P. was so excited about this baby and the fact that Aron and I did not need any of his assistance (with infertility things). He did say he thought if we kept going like this that we could have at least 8 or 9 more children by the time I am 40!! If Aron would have been there, he may have passed out in the floor!!

We have an ultrasound on August the 30th and get to find out the sex of the baby! Just cannot wait. Will little Lovey have a sister or a brother???

So, after sitting on the table with the stirrup thingys for too long in a light peach gown that was o- so revealing, I was then told that I had to go down to the lab for some bloodwork! BOO!

I ventured down the hallway, checked in, and then sat in the waiting area for about 25 minutes! It was okay since I started reading Harry Potter, and I was very into the book. It definately calmed my nerves until I heard a child screaming in the back (he was obviously not excited about the blood stuff). It made me terribly uncomfortable and wanting to leave, but no, they called my name next. I had to sit in the room next to the screamer. (did I mention blood makes me totally sqweeby feeling, just hate it)
So this nice lady asked me to sit down on the chair and put my arm up on the table. I inform her I do not have very good veins and I do not usually give lots a blood. She says, "well, I think we will be fine." HA, I think to myself.
So, stick number 1: nothing, she loses the vein (not sure where it went, but it left my right arm.
Next vein up: in the hand, nothing. She held the needle there forever and the well was dry.
Left arm: she asks another lady to come into the room. She is getting a little hot, turns the fan on herself and then expresses to the newcomer blood getter that I have tiny veins if she could please hold my arm still so she can get it out of the only good looking vein in my left arm. I am thinking, this is not going to be good. I begin sweating, it this because the number 1 blood taker is taking all of the fan wind or because these two ladies are standing way to close to my face. The number 1 lady said, if this does not work, we will just send you over to the hospital since we have to fill 4 vials! O-geez!!
So here it comes! Stick number 3: and Oh No! She didn't. That is the last thing that I remember! I passed out and woke up in the boobs of lady #1! Yes, I totally passed out!!
All by myself with the sticker ladies in a lab!! Worst time ever!!
Needless to say, I did not fill up their vials, and have to return on Monday.
I hope that it turns out much better!

Hope yal have a great day!

Love yal!

Caryn