Progress

We finally have real internet for the first time in almost a year!!!!! Where we were living, it was $75/mo just for basic internet, RIDICULOUS. So we just made do with our cell phones or when we were at our parents. Now that we live in an actual city, 25 bucks a month gets us the fastest DSL available! Nice.

Soooo now I can post pictures on here! Like this one:

Look at that beautiful family! Haha. And this one:

Look at that gut! This was a week ago-ish, at 36 weeks, now I'm 37 1/2 weeks, and at my appt yesterday found out I've started dilating, so hoping to make it to Monday, the 20th, our scheduled induction day! We're 3 hours away from the hospital I'm delivering at, so don't need any exciting things to happen before then!

And there's this one:

My boys started football! Finally! Jeff's been waiting for this day for 8 years now. The day Noah was born, all Jeff was picturing was the beginning of a football team. Noah is the kicker, which is what Jeff excelled at all through high school, so that wasn't surprising. He even had a chance to be the kicker at a UNT, but just didn't show up for his interview. I believe he said it was bc he was in the middle of a video game..... Max plays on the defensive and offensive line (he's solid!) and last week played a little tight end. They are LOVING every second of it, which makes me happy.

Guess I should mention that we moved! Loving it here in Tyler. It's soo nice to be right around the corner from Target, Walmart, a mall, etc etc etc. In Weatherford, it was at least a 30 minute drive for anything. Haven't really gotten to make new friends yet, but now that football and school have started, and we've found a new church, it won't be long. The boys have made several friends, but I need to meet their parents before we have any get togethers =) I'm not picky about much, but that's important.

Not much else going on, just waiting for this baby! Soo ready to not have my kidneys, lungs, ribs and bladder constantly assaulted. Not to mention the heartburn! UGH, the heartburn. Oh and the passing out! Yeah, apparently my hemogloben is low? I dunno, so trying to take an iron supplement, but I'm horrible at taking pills. It's hard enough for me to remember my regular vitamin, but I can't take the iron at the same time, or with food. How am I supposed to take it "1 hour before a meal or 2 hours after a meal" when I have to eat every hour so I don't pass out?!

Yeah, I'm done. Done being pregnant. After 4 times now, I can say that and mean it whole heartedly! It's time for the next phase of life.

Normally Abnormal

Ok so Max has an irregular rythm that changes with his breathing but is within the average range, so no meds or special precautions. He's just abnormal =)

Let's add some chaos...

...to the mix. As if there's not enough craziness going on at the moment.

So last Tuesday (a week and a half ago) I took Noah & Max to the doc for their annual checkups/physicals for football, assuming it would be the normal, boring appt. Nope, of course not.

To start out, they both had a trace of blood in their urine, what's up w that? Then Noah had swimmer's ear (which he hadn't complained once about) and Impentigo (sp?) on his nose, which I thought was just a little raw bc his nose has been running a lot from allergies. So 2 prescriptions right off the bat.

On to Max -

First off, she heard an irregular heart beat, or something like that, so she told me to take him to the children's hospital for an EKG and to pick up a monitor for him to wear for 24 hours. She didn't seem too worried, but docs are good at that, so I'm freaking out a little. Then she tells me that his lymph nodes are swollen for no apparent reason, so she's gonna do some bloodwork to check everything out. Now I'm really freaking out (only on the inside, of course). So 15 min later, in comes the nurse to draw the blood from my 6 year old, who now I'm looking at like he's my baby that I want to hold. He did sooo good. He watched the whole time, 4 VILES full! I had to have bloodwork done the day before, and only had to fill 3 viles, so he was pretty stoked that he did more than mom =)

Well 2 days later we get the word that all the bloodwork came back completely normal, so I got to take a deep breath. That was the part that was really worrying me.

And as for the heart issue -

I'm skipping a lot of drama, including a massive blow-out on the interstate and a missed appt for the EKG, and fast forwarding to today, 4 days after they said I would have the results... Still haven't heard a word!!! Sooo annoying. I really don't think there's anything wrong, I think all the stress going on around him is affecting him. And the fact that we haven't heard anything from the doc further leads me to believe it's nothing serious. If it were, wouldn't they have already let me know something?

Anyway, I'm calling today if they don't call me. Not that it'll do anything, but I can't help myself =) Will update if I actually find something out!

oh man

So it's funny to go back and read my like "info" section on here, because i wrote it like... over a year ago? And when I said I was "OMG so busy" I had NO IDEA WHAT WAS COMING! 3 HYPER boys, the pregnancy from hades, the hottest summer ever, my parents and sisters moving into our house w/ us, AND us moving OUT. O M G I don't know what to do with myself.

If I haven't mentioned it before, my parents and sisters moved in with us a couple weeks ago. They needed to sell their house, and it wasn't selling, so they put it up for rent and was rented out w/i 2 weeks. Sooo, thank the LORD this opportunity for us to move came up, otherwise we'd be living together indefinitely, which I'm finding out would NOT be acceptable. Just a glimpse: our kitchen has 2 refrigerators, 2 center islands, 2 dining room tables (w/ 13 chairs), and about 30 packed boxes, tubs, etc. That's my kitchen, people. Now picture the living room, bedrooms, and backyard!!! We're a cat family, well not really, but they keep the mice and snakes away, so we let them live outside our back door. My parents are dog people. There is a constant power struggle in the backyard right now. No one is getting along. It's beyond insane. This morning I almost came unglued because my cereal (yes, MY cereal) was gone, and yesterday, there was enough for 3 more bowls left. I had to take deep breaths and tell myself it wasn't a big deal. I can't believe I'm admitting that but it's true!

So add to that situation, the hardest pregnancy I've had yet. This little girl is wearing me out. If I don't eat every hour, here is some of what I experience: achy, restless legs, headaches, dizziness, blurred vision (like I couldn't read a message on my phone right in front of my face), my face and ears feel like they're on FIRE (like I have a horrible sunburn but I don't!), and random numbness that moves up and down my arms. ODD right?!? I almost passed out 3 times one day, so decided to give my doc a call, and she asked "well what have you eaten today?" To which I replied "ummm, a yogurt..... a cracker.... umm some toast?" LOL I'm so dumb! "Hun, you need to eat." Who has time to eat!?!?! Especially when NOTHING sounds good. It's really hard to eat when nothing sounds good. And when it's 100+ degrees outside, nothing but ice sounds good. Little Miss Hattie is doing just great, though, kicking, rolling and bouncing around in there having a good ol' time. Stinker.

And the icing on the cake: moving. Wow, moving. I've thrown away as much as I've packed. And now all that's left to pack are things we use on a daily basis, so can't really pack anymore. Jeff's finishing up his 4th week of work out in Tyler already. He's enjoying it and is good at it, so couldn't ask for more! Having him gone all week is good some days, and not so much on others. I love having the bed to myself, but not really ever getting a break from the boys is tiring. This next 2 weeks can NOT go by quick enough.

Holy mother of moses did I forget to mention my 3 adorable, well behaved little boys? Yeah, driving me nuts. If they're not dumping boxes of crackers all over the ground, they're leaving their markers out for Ben to color on the walls with. If they're not punching each other repeatedly, they're trying to drown each other in the pool! I walked out just in time to see Max, the 6 yr old, ask Ben, the 2 yr old if he wanted to go under, and when Ben exclaimed "yes!" Max proceeded to push his little head right under! Max is now grounded from the pool for a week, but really doesn't understand why. Ugh.

Good news: Our new house is ADORABLE, and the exact size, price and location we wanted! There's an issue w/ the ac, that's getting looked at on Monday, and since we're just renting at first, it's not our responsibility, which is nice for a change!

Well, better go see what chaos awaits me......

The move is on...

and not the little move west. A HUGE move east!

Jeff got a job offer a couple of months ago for a company in Tyler, TX, about 2 1/2 hours east of us. I've been ignoring him every time he brought it up because I have NO intention of moving my family away from my home for the past 20 years. We like this area, we have so many friends, an amazing church, and most of our family is nearby. He would try to talk to me about it, and I would walk away.

Then, of course, he agreed to the job with his dad's company. A promising job that would start out slow and with not much pay, but he had the opportunity to work his way up to a very good salary w/i 8 years or so, and we wouldn't have to move far.

So I was pleased.

THEN, he drops the bombshell on me that I have to go with him for an actual INTERVIEW for the position in Tyler. And he's the ONLY person they're interviewing.

I cried and yelled at him and told him I wasn't going. It's his decision. Not mine.

Then I laid in bed with Ben and prayed. Why don't I pray sooner?

All of a sudden I felt such peace. I had to apologize to Jeff and say that I'd go with him. He looked at me and smiled and I said "If you say a word I'm not going." He smiled and said "I wasn't gonna say anything..."

So we went. And it was nice. It's beautiful compared to here. Trees everywhere. Green everywhere. And it's an amazing opportunity. Double what he would make the first year working for his dad's company. And basically the same opportunity to move up. The owner wants to train Jeff up to someday buy the company.

We came home and he went straight to his Dad's to talk about it. His dad called it a "slam dunk" and told Jeff not to pass it up. We prayed and felt peace, so the next day (today) he called the boss and accepted the job. They really want him to start like... tomorrow, but Jeff has a mini-mester class that starts in a week and goes for 2 weeks, but then he'll start (by driving back and forth, staying all week) for 3 weeks, then has one more commitment to youth camp for the last week in June, then we'll all move out there!

To say I'm terrified would be an understatement. It's happening so fast and I've never moved more than 45 min away from "home." Especially with 3 kids and 1 on the way! Now I have to take a break from thinking about it so I don't start hyperventilating. When I catch my breath I'll update more =)

Hattie Grace Hopkins

Shall be her name =) my mom and sister hate it, so I know it's perfect. Everyone else either loves it or is just being nice... I'll take it either way =)

I was sitting in the doctor's office reading a magazine and came across the name Hattie. I didn't think Jeff would go for it so I texted it to him along with 2 others I liked, and he replied that he had heard the name Hattie on tv the night before and was going to suggest it to me! He then looked up the meaning: Home Ruler. HA! We've been saying all along that she will be the boss of her 3 big brothers, so Hattie it is. And in an effort to make sure she's not an evil dictator we added Grace. So at least she'll be a gracious ruler =)

Oh and she's already bossing people around. During my sonogram she was opening and closing her mouth the whole time, like a little fish. She was giving someone an earful!

In other news, Ben is almost completely potty trained and sleeping in his big-boy-twin-bed! And he's not even 2 yet! The pacifier is the nxt thing to go, but I'm not in a hurry. I don't really see the big deal about the paci anyway. It makes him feel better when he's sick or tired, so what's the problem?

Noah turned in his first Quest (Gifted & Talented) project last week. It was a huge map of Paul Revere's Ride. He did soo good. He's honestly smarter than I am. I readily admit it. He definitely is lacking in the logic dept but he can't be perfect!

I've about had it with Max's teacher. He comes home everyday with 5-8 plain white worksheets. He's in KINDERGARTEN! What do u expect him to do when you just shove worksheet after worksheet in a 6 yr old's face? YES, he's gonna occasionally color on his desk! He's bored out of his friggin mind! He has aced every timed math test they've had, and is reading above where he is supposed to be. On Tuesday when I walked up to pick him up his teacher grabbed him by the arm and walked to meet me - great, what did u do now, Max. She proceeds to tell me how sorry she is that she didn't know he had brought his lunch and had put him in the lunch line, then he ate his lunch that he brought for snack. I say no prob, no worries. So as we walk off I ask Max why he didn't tell his teacher that he had brought his lunch, and he says "I tried!" I almost turned around and walked back to Ms. Crappy-teacher and opened up a can. LOL. It took everything in me not to. He messes up and gets a writeup in his folder, then tries to do the right thing and gets ignored.

Which brings me to my nxt bit of news...

We're moving. Not far, but far enough. Jeff decided to take the job with his dad (basically working his way up to the top w/i about the nxt 5-8 years). The company is based 45 min west of us. There's a town about 20 min in that direction that is much smaller than here, but not too small, and Jeff's scoping out land out there. The schools are great - much smaller classes than here, and with a brand new state of the art elementary school. We also know several teachers/coaches and even a principal from that school district. Anyway, hopefully nxt year my kids won't be ignored and forced to do worksheets till they die from boredom. It's going to be a good change!!

On a sad note, Mavs went down tonight. They're so much better than the Spurs, but just couldn't pull it off. RIP Mavs 09-10 season.... GO LAKERS!

F R U S T R A T I O N

So apparently Blogger is trying to make it easier on my by making me retype my email/password 500 times before finally letting me log onto my blog! It never would let me from my phone, so I took a minute from "work" to try on the church computer, and about 200 tries later, voila! Success.

Ok so, IT'S A GIRL!!!! I still don't know what to think. I made the sono tech chick tell me that she was 100% positive, and she was. It's such an odd feeling. Jeff tried to give me a high-5 so I punched him in the gut. Noah and Max left the doc's office with their heads hanging low. It was quite a sight. Sooo wish I wasn't laughing hysterically and had gotten out my camera. Most of that is for show, though. They love telling people that we got "bad news." Then they just giggle.

I HONESTLY don't think it's set in yet. I just don't know where to start. A friend brought over a sweet little dress and big bow and I have no idea where to put them! It's like they don't belong in our house! I left them sitting on the kitchen island for like 3 days. I finally hung it up in the closet, but it still seems soo out of place.

Although I don't know what to think, I definitely feel happy. Either way I was going to be happy. Knowing that it's a healthy, happy baby in there, kicking and rolling around makes me smile.