Midnight snack

Hudson's first soccer game

The poor guys hadn't had a practice and Hudson had never even seen a real soccer game before. He did kick the ball a few times though!

My little Clone Troopers

Alayna wearing two necklaces! That's what I get for leaving laundry on the couch!

Sorry to be Debbie Downer on that last post. Pregnancy makes me crazy. I love this baby. It's not a big deal to be sick and tired all the time for a few more weeks. I can do it. Sometime around 1 am Hudson woke me up to let me know that Pierce was on his side of the bed. So I got up and scooted Pierce back to his side. I laid back down in bed but, of course, could not go back to sleep. After swallowing nothing but my own saliva for an hour I ran to the bathroom and dry-heaved for about 5 minutes. No big deal, right?!

Argh!

My pirates

Bikini Babe

Back from a lovely vacation in Florida. Who doesn't love vacation? Oh, maybe the sick pregnant mommy and the sick daddy - but, the kids had fun and we did get incredible beach pictures that I will post later. We made some great memories and the kids did have a blast. But, seriously, I will never drive 17 hours with three small children as a sick pregnant woman EVER again! I'm a tough girl. I teach a mean aerobics class. I don't scream or cry when I have babies. I can handle it. But I could barely bring myself to climb into my mini-van, yet again, to drive to play group this morning. That, and Pierce found a lobster claw on the beach and brought it home and the whole van smelled like dead fish this morning.

We started our drive Saturday morning (12 days ago). The general excitement wore off for the kids after the first movie ended. We stopped in Jackson, MI. The boys got to swim in the hotel pool with daddy and sleep in the "couch that turned into a bed"! About the most exciting thing that could have happened for them. Pierce is deathly afraid of elevators. He begged to take the stairs or clung to me and cried in the elevator! This is the same kid who was body surfing in the OCEAN.

After 17 hours and 16 stops we made it to rainy Florida. It rained for 4 days. We finally let the kids play out in the rain. Once the sun came out we were so excited to hit the beach. Alayna decided right away that she didn't like the sand and the ocean waves were about the scariest thing she had ever seen. Relaxation never entered my vocabulary. The boys had a blast and David and I traded off with the pitiful baby so we could play too.

The boys got to go with David on a "real" pirate ship and that was a HUGE success. I got to go with a friend to a local outlet and that was also a huge success (retail therapy- every woman's friend).

The last three days Hudson came down with a fever and a bad sore throat with severely swollen tonsils. For those of us sharing a room with him, sleep was lacking.

The drive home was fairly uneventful and peaceful - I am grateful for that.

So, all that to say, I need a vacation!

Shake It

My four-year-olds' photography skills, I cocked my head to fit under his thumb :)

The alien face, of course.

I ate a lot of chocolate while I was pregnant with this one.

He doesn't eat dirt, but he's always this dirty.

"The most direct route between point A and point B on your life-journey is the path of unwavering trust in Me." Jesus Calling, Sarah Young

Unwavering trust. Hmm. Deep thoughts. I may go back to that in a later post. I know you were hoping for a sermonette! ;)

This week has been crazy - lots going on, but I did workout EVERY day! So proud of myself. I'm starting to feel that lovely nausea creep up on me. "Awe, do you have morning sickness?" How 'bout ALL DAY VOMIT! I know, that was rough. It hasn't gotten that bad yet. Maybe it wont this time. The only time the sick-feeling goes away (or I just don't notice it) is when I'm working out. I am very determined to not get as massive this time as I did last time. There is no need to gain 40 lbs and only be carrying an 8 1/2 lb baby. SERIOUSLY!

All that to say, I know in the past I shunned Zumba and promised to never return. These hips were born baptist. Latin dance is just not in my vocabulary ... until now. My hips still don't shake very good, but thanks to my, now favorite, Zumba instructor (who lost 65 lbs doing Zumba), I will be all belly this go-round and this poor baby will be shaken. I LOVE it! There, I said it. So, try it. Go with a friend and have SO MUCH FUN sweating and dancing and getting in great shape!

My Baby

"Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens;

Your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.

Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,

Your justice like the oceans depths...

How precious is Your unfailing love, O God!  

All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings.

You feed them from the abundance of Your own house,

Letting them drink from the rivers of Your delight.

For You are the fountain of life, 

the Light by which we see."  Psalm 36:5-9

Isn't it incredible that when we see clouds, God's faithfulness reaches beyond them?  Isn't it amazing that when I don't know where I'm going to put another child or how we're going to feed another mouth or what in the world God was thinking when, through all our efforts to keep from this, the Fountain of Life granted us yet another life and gives us shelter in the shadow of His wings, and feeds us from the abundance of His own house, and lets us drink from the rivers of His delight?!  I am in awe of the unfailing love of my God.

I must say, I was initially in shock.  Not devastated, at the deepest level, but definitely reeling.  Another baby?  Are you serious?  Long ago, I thought it was a great plan to have all of my children before I turned 30 (I'll be 29 the end of this month).  Now, I realize, not only does that require extreme amounts of energy and who knows how many pots of coffee, but it will also require us to do something permanent after this baby comes to avoid our own reality TV show when I'm 42 and pregnant with our 19th child!  That's another big decision - not really thinking about that yet.  However, Suzanna Wesley and Mrs. Duggar are in a category of their own.  Not planning on joining them. :)  Beyond that crazy stream of thought, God is so good to grant us this baby, whom my sons are determined to name Deuteronomy, aka Dude.

In other news, Alayna is 15 months  old and so much fun.  She says new words every day, loves shoes and wants all 7 of her blankeys at the same time.  She loves talking on the phone and playing with her babies, and building spaceships and playing cars - we call that well-balanced.

She loves sitting in this chair.  She usually gets as many toys as she can hold in her arms and then sits down.  She's a hoarder.  :)  Now that she's walking she likes to kick the ball.  Hudson is playing soccer this year, so she's learning a lot from her big brother.  

The poor thing has been blessed with my cheeks, but we love them.  She may not love them so much when she's 14.  ;)

And this is the little guy we found playing on our playground in the back yard.  He makes a great science lesson/craft for this week!  We watched him for a really long time.  One of our favorite babysitters gave the boys bug-eye masks.  As soon as we saw the praying mantis outside they went and got their masks on.  More pictures to come!

...and counting

Looks like I'm going to have to change the name of my blog.  You might ask, "Why would you need to do that?"  But, probably not.  You've probably already guessed.  Indeed, God has blessed us with a little surprise due to show up in, oh, I'd say about 9 months ;)

Ha, David just said, "Maybe you'll have twins and then you wont have to change the name of your blog, cause that would really be such an inconvenience."  Oh, boy! ... or girl :)

A Conversation

Hudson:  Mom, is Spiderman real?

Me:  No, Spiderman is a made up super hero. 

Hudson:  Well, I'll just pray to God and He can make Spiderman real.

Me:  Hudson, God answers our prayers by giving us what we need and sometimes what we want.  He will probably not make Spiderman real.  God puts things in our lives that draw us to Him, that make us need Him and love Him and that build our trust and faith in Him.

Hudson:  Well mom, I love God a lot.  Maybe about 1,065.  :)