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.

Rain, Rain, GO AWAY!

I'm pretty sure it has rained, on average, every other day for the past 6 months, and I'm fully aware that we were in a drout at this time last year, but good grief, I think we're good now!

So we're off to the coast today! Everyone's excited, which means there's alot of noise at my house right now. Which is fine with me cause I'm not there! I'm stuck up at the church, trying to get the bulletin's printed before we take off! .

So the Mavs game SUCKED. But they beat the Bulls last night, so we're back on track. We had beaten the Knicks a couple of months ago by 50 points, so they felt they needed to prove a point or something I guess? I don't really blame them, but we had such amazing seats, and all we saw was defeat, up close. Oh well...

I still have the cough from hell. Going on 4 weeks now. Went to the doc and he just said take Robitussin, which is NASTY and makes me gag and I'm convinced does nothing. The massive snot production that my body is insisting on making right now isn't making the situation any better. I've been sleeping in the recliner in the living room, to spare Jeff the constant hacking. My mother in law said she had the cough for 4 weeks, so please, God, let this be the last of it.

Off to fold some bulletins, then to get a nice pre-Summer tan =)

i'm usually right

And by "usually" I mean "always." It's actually a bit ridiculous.

When I first went to the doc, I had made an educated guess as to how far along I was: approx 9 weeks. After the nurse questioned me for awhile, she determined that I was actually 11 weeks. It didn't make sense to me, but I'm not a doctor, or nurse, for that matter =) so I didn't argue. At my second trip to the doc, I just couldn't help myself, and I decided to question it, but got the same response, still due Sept 7th. OOOK, whatever y'all say!

Well guess what! Yup! I was right all along. Sonogram confirms I'm only 11 weeks, 5 days today, moving the due date to September 25.

This is totally cool with me.

Jeff coaches highschool football, and both Noah and Max will play football this fall, so this way I won't miss hardly any of their games. I really am happy about that.

It also explains why I'm still having some nauseousness (is that a word?). I was beginning to wonder why I was still feeling sick, into the second trimester (tho I felt sick when I was preggo w/ Ben for almost the first 6 months, but I'm determined that's NOT happening again (yes I'm pretending I have control over it)). And actually, as I typed that I realized I haven't felt bad all day today... I'm not gonna hold my breath, but maybe things are lookin up!

My only complaint is that now, instead of 2 weeks until we find out the sex of baby #4, it's now 4 weeks, maybe even 5 weeks away!! I know it will fly by, though, so I'll live =)

It was so fun watching baby #4 bounce around during the sonogram. He would throw his legs up in the air and just flop and roll and do whatever he wanted to! So happy! It's incredible, really. Jeff couldn't stop smiling. It's our 4th time around and it doesn't get any less cool!

In other news:

How 'bout them MAVS?! Holy cow, Cuban made the trade of a lifetime! We got rid of Howard and... I can't even remember who else, and got Brendan Haywood, Deshawn Stevenson, and Caron Butler, and are currently on a 13 game win streak!! This season wasn't lookin good, and now we could go all the way! Jeff surprised me w/ tickets to Saturday night's game, so that'll be fun! They're good ones, too =)

details details

So I didn't really share any specifics yet did I? Here's the dillio-

I'd been feeling... off I guess, SUPER tired, and a little nautious, so I took a pee test... not expecting to be surprised. But oh was I.

Jeff is extatic. Over the moon. Hyper and goofy like a little kid. It's a mix of cute and really annoying. More annoying since I'm not feeling too hot. Yesterday he had the nerve to complain about the lunch I made for him! When he got home from work he was "starving" and proceeded to tell me that he had "choked down half of the sandwich bc it had mistard on it." EXCUSE ME? Of all times, this would be the best? He's never complained about the food I've made for him, and apparently he thought it would be "funny." He was mistaken. I let him know that critisizing your *slightly* emotional, pregnant wife is NOT as hilarious as he had anticipated. And I will not be making his lunch for awhile...

The boys are happy. Max wants another brother, Noah thinks maybe a sister would be ok. Ben has started saying "baby" and pointing to my tummy, which means he's cool with it I think? =)

Everyone I talk to wants it to be a girl, but I'm not really set either way. I HONESTLY believe that God knows we do well with boys, so it will not shock me if boy #4 is on the way.

It's just so much pressure with everyone telling me to "think pink" that if it's a boy, I worry he'll feel like he wasn't wanted. I guess all that matters is if he's wanted by his family, and there's nothing I'm gonna love more than a new life to join our family, no matter what "parts" come along. People don't realize that their words hurt. Did I mention I'm a tiny bit emotional lately? I'm not my normal self right now!

What's my normal right now?

Zombie with waves of nauseous-ball-of-yuck.

I'm sooo tired, all day everyday. I'm taking my vitamins, and they're helping a little, and I'm even still going to the gym, but just can't seem to WAKE UP!

The nauseousness is so odd this time around. I start to feel so sick and nothing in the world sounds good, but as soon as I make myself eat, I feel better!! Fooorrr about an hour. Then the cycle starts again. So I'm basically eating every hour, which makes me seriously nervous. I typically only gain 15-25 lbs w/ a pregnancy, and I keep 10 of it! Soo if I gain 40, will I keep 20!? Ugh. I know it's not worth worrying about, I just can't help it.

So I'm about 12 weeks, due Sept 7th. My next doc apt is next week on Wednesday, and I'll find out if we can schedule the gender check sono!! Just want to know. Really bad =) usually they can tell around 15-16 weeks, so we'll see...

Nausea nausea
Please go away
Despite what you've heard
I do not want to play.

Nausea, oh nausea
Please leave me alone
I don't want to be attached
To the porceline throne.