Annual 4th of July Vacation

We had a good amount of sunshine, some mixed in rain showers, but lots of smiles & fun!

Connor was excellent & made our 4 day trip fun for all :).  We spent a good amount of time between the beach & the pool.  There is no question I have a water boy!

I asked for a picture & he opted to model with a nearby seaweed blob.

Matt hung in there with his knee still healing.  I was a trooper sporting a bathing suit at 7 months pregnant!

Connor is clearly best buds with Katie's boyfriend, Eric.  He asked about what he was doing at any given time and wanted to hang with him whenever he was around.  Big thanks to Eric for keeping up with Peewee.  Here's an action shot from the boys tossing a football on the beach.  He's the cutest kid ever.

Some of the gang in the beautifully clear water.

After the beach, we cooled off in the kiddie pool.

The adults taking over the kiddie pool.

We had lots to celebrate this year.  Katie graduated with her DNP, Alyssa will graduate with her Bachelors in August from UCF, and Brandy & Brandon welcomed baby Logan in May.  No celebration is complete without cake :)

The Hall Family

A rare family photo of the 3 of us (too bad I'm ginormous).

The Whitaker kids (and families)

Baby talk time

Our annual trip isn't complete without a puzzle

Uncle Craig mentioned to Peewee how fun the big blowup slide would be, so he was a trooper to take him on it! C came down the slide the first time with an unsure face, reached the bottom, then goes, "Let's do it again!"

It's funny how sometimes C can look so big and other times, he still looks so small!

Uncle Craig took the belly approach.

Brandy & Brandon had a friend visit with a little boy who was 4 years old too.  The boys were pretty shy to start with, but once they realized they both liked to play with cars, trucks, and the sand, they played well together.

The fam played a big volleyball game (where I was too busy delegating the 'ball boy' job to Connor to keep him from getting run over by someone during the game...and didn't get to take any pictures).  After the game, we got Eric to take Connor down the big bounce house slide again.

When we got back, I was pretty exhausted.  Nana & Papa took C over to Aunt Holly's room before supper, while I showered up.  When I got to her room, I was very surprised to see both boys passed out asleep on the balcony.  C doesn't nap easily, let alone fall asleep on his own in any given location.  He was that exhausted that he didn't have a problem snoozing away with Papa.

We ended our last night of vacation with a few pictures at sunset, playing Hot Potato with Uncle Craig, Auntie Nicole, Nana, Connor & Mommy, putting together a big puzzle, then curling up for a much needed night's sleep.  

While we were packing up for check out this morning, I had to wake C at 10:00am!  He had more fun than his little body could handle!  We're looking forward to another long night of sleep tonight in our own beds.

We had a great time seeing family again this year.  Next year we'll have one more child in tow!

4th of July and then some...

What a busy week it has been!  We are now at T minus 1 hour until we pick C up from school & head out on our annual Grandma Beach Memorial Vacation!  There may be lots of rain with the tropical storm coned right for us, but ain't nobody gonna rain on our parade! :)

Before we leave, I wanted to upload any recent pictures before I come home with oodles from our vacation.  Enjoy!

Last Wednesday, C's school/church put on a wonderful kid's night for the 4th of July.  There were bounce houses, games, live music, and an outstanding fireworks show!  I began to feel rough on the way to the kid festivities, but I wasn't sure what was wrong (super clammy, tummy upset).  Bless my sweet little boy's heart (and his curiosity for vomit), because we made many trips to the bathroom that evening so Mommy could 'boof!'  I would 'boof' then C would want to see it (yes, boys are strange)...and then he'd look at me all sweet & give me a hug.  I wasn't going to let me being sick get in the way of C having fun!  God strategically placed a restroom at every bounce house stop, so I didn't have to run far.  Matt met us there after his physical therapy appointment (he's driving now--Amen!), so he hung with Peewee when I had to sit down or make restroom runs.  At one point the restroom was too far for me to get to and I didn't realize that drinking water would result in a 'boof' attack, so I go to put on a water boofing show for a large crowd of people (I tried to escape to the grass near a large oak tree, but I'm pretty sure my large pregnant bod & multi-colored striped dress didn't help me camouflage the way I had hoped).  We stuck it out until fireworks time & are so glad we did!  C's sweet little face was worth it!  We sat in the trunk of the car & watched the show about 300 feet away, while C stood in the road with his jaw dropped & shooting out comments like, "Whoa! This is awesome!" and "These fireworks are going on forever!  There's like a million!"

After a long night of upset tummy bathroom trips, we woke ready for 4th of July boating with Nana & Papa!  We dodged the rain clouds & enjoyed a beautiful windy day on the water!

Our next fun stop was Grandma Lori's house for supper, pool time played squeezed in between storms, and sparklers!

The kids enjoyed the sparklers & we got a bonus show of fireworks coming from the neighbor's house!

On Friday, Peewee & I decided to have a Mommy/Connor date at the water playground.  We hadn't been there in awhile & I wouldn't believe how big he looked/how independent he was this time.  He made a friend & they took turns going down the water slide.  C enjoys any chance he can get to tell someone what to do... "Ok, you go this way & I'll go this way!"  His little friend was a great listener & therefore, C liked him! :)

Since I had the weekend open with Peewee, we scheduled a last minute trip to Orlando to visit Auntie Katie & Eric's house!  The night before my sweet little guy got the same stomach bug that I had (to a smaller degree) and was boofing.  He was such a champ about it though.  He'd just tell me his tummy hurt, boof in his 'throw up bowl' and go back to playing.  I monitored him all night (as he slept on our bedroom floor) and when he was able to hold food down the next day, we opted to continue our trip plans.  I was that annoying Mom that asked if he was feeling alright about every 15 minutes.  He played pretend with his Winnie the Pooh toys, having them jump in and out of his 'throw up bowl' (it was clean and unused, by the way) and managed to crash for a nap for the remainder of the trip.

When we got to Auntie Katie's house, we checked into our guest room & found a cute note :)

The weekend consisted of lots of swimming, C making Eric his new best friend, and lots of Bobo-Connor bonding time. 

Eric planned a mini fishing trip across the street from their house.  Peewee had more fun playing with the 'wiggle worm' gooey lure guys while Eric fished with hot dog buns.

Katie & I sat nearby & got great laughs from a new app she found on our phones.  Instant make over! Haha! 

The boys bonded with morning cartoons, before we loaded up and headed out to a nearby mini golf place.

  While the munchkin doesn't necessarily play by the rules & he was more interested in the scavenger hunt through the golf course, we had fun!

He likes to play like I do-- hit the ball hard for your first shot then just take your club and drag the ball to the hole for the next shot! :)

The golf course offered a critter feeding area with tiny gators and turtles.  I think C had fun launching pellet food at them!

We were all good & exhausted from the mini golf trip (except C), so we decided to hop in the pool to cool off.  At one point, Auntie Katie noticed that there were tiny tadpoles swimming in the pool.  She & Peewee kept busy for awhile catching all the tadpoles while I googled the important "How To's" when it comes to tadpole rearing.

I unfortunately didn't get any photos from the chaos that was that evening & Auntie Katie is probably grateful for that.  We can all get a good laugh about it now, but lets just say that evening we all served as a clean up crew after Bobo ingested a little too much chlorine water in the pool that day.  Nothing a little hosing a giant rug, swiffering, vacuuming, and lighting candles couldn't fix!

We ended the night with a fun game of Break the Ice.

The next morning we loaded up, then stopped at the World's Largest McDonald's before heading home.

The next day was haircut day!  I swear he looks like a different kid after a good haircut :)  His head gets a lot smaller too!

In preparation for our vacation, we needed to clean out the car.  You can't go to the car vacuum place without a cool drive through the car wash!  It was the highlight to Peewee's day!

So we managed to unload from one trip and are all packed up for our next vacation!  Gotta go load the car!  

Mini golf trip!

While Mommy & Matt had tickets to see comedian, Daniel Tosh, Nana & Papa had big plans for Peewee!  C had never been miniature golfing, but when we'd drive past a course, he'd be so cute to say, "Hey Mom! Do you think we could go golfing sometime when I get older?!"

When Nana & I were brainstorming on what fun things they could do while Matt & I were away for a few hours, Nana suggested the idea of mini golf.  I knew he'd be surprised and have a blast!  Great thinking, Nana!

I received these phone photos from Nana, updating me on their evening.  Peewee had so much fun!  She said each hole took about 10+ shots, but C enjoyed the whole trip!

Here was Connor's 1st hole in one!  Nana & Papa got a kick out of how excited C got over it! :)

Sidenote: 

While I was dressed & out of my lounge wear, I opted for another belly photo.  25 weeks and counting!!

Thank you Nana & Papa for entertaining the Munchkin for a few hours.  When I picked him up last night, he blurted out-- "HEY Mom! Do you think sometime we could go jungle golfing again?!"

I love my happy little guy :)

Fresh Start

I want to begin by saying I am extremely blessed to have such wonderful family & friends that contacted me after my last 'Debbie Downer' post.  I'm doing my best to rid the negative energy and stop worrying about the uncontrollable as much as possible.  I had a wonderful day with just me & Peewee, consisting of playing Luigi & Princess Peach through our grocery store trip, eating lunch in his tent in the living room, and playing every possible board game in the house.  We had a light-hearted day of giggles & it was so refreshing.

To continue my trend of adorable pictures of my favorite 4 year old, please sit back & enjoy some pictures from the past week.

Bunch Beach trip last Friday resulted in hermit crab sightings, laying around in the water, and catching an upclose glimpse of fish-hunting porpoises.

I love watching C interact with his Nana.  He's so content with her.

Mr. Giggles

With cupcakes in the house over the weekend, we had to squeeze in a 'Cupcake Party' with C & all his friends (his Toy Story stuffed animal crew).  Connor gets a kick out of how each cupcake is magically eaten off his friends' plates.  Matt & I find it fun scarfing down cupcakes quickly while C's looking the other way.  Fun for all!

I walked in on Connor in the shower playing pretend with his 'Mickey friends' in his cooler bath.  I declared today that I need a good video camera (my old one bit the dust on Christmas morning & I've never made the time to get a new one).  With Connor at the best age for adorable pretend play by himself & with a new baby coming, we definitely need to put one on our to-get list.

(In case you were unsure, we have a cooler in the shower as Matt's bench post knee surgery)

I'm off to put my little Lovebug to bed.  Good night!

I'm a mess

I'm going to let some of my favorite quotes from Pinterest.com help introduce today's blog posting.  In no particular order...

"When you're down and out, remember that God gives his hardest battles to his toughest soldiers."

"Someday everything will make perfect sense.  So, for now, laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason."

"When a tiny human comes shooting out of your vagina, come talk to me."

"If people are trying to bring you down, it only means you are above them."

"Since narcissistic was too big of a word for you, how about a-hole? Do you understand a-hole?!"

"I don't hate you, but if you were on fire and I had water, I would drink it."

"I miss your absence."

"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people promptly announces she never did care for pie."

"If you want to learn what someone fears losing, watch what they photograph."

"Some people just suck the NICE right out of you."

I could go on forever with the quotes, so will stop there for now.  My quotes reveal a good mish-mosh of the last week or so of my life.  It doesn't help that I am a progesterone crazy pregnant lady that can cry at the thought of anything.  Seriously anything.  This week I have felt the weight of the world on my shoulders.  I've thrown myself a crying pity-party.  My mind is going in a million directions.  Let me see if I can sum up my thoughts (no judging allowed)...

I'm 6 months pregnant and uncomfortable.  I'm worried about if the baby will be healthy.  Will he be a tough baby like I thought C was?  Has my placenta previa resolved itself?  When I go back to the Dr. in two weeks, will I receive the news that he wants me on bedrest & project I'll need a C-section if my placenta is still low?  Will I miss out on potentially my last baby's birth, because I'll be tied down to a surgical table? Can I give C all the love and attention I'd like to with a newborn here?  Will I ever get this weight off?  I'm desperate for sleep.  I can't sleep.  Not a bit.  I've ever resorted to letting C crawl into bed with me in the middle of the night to avoid having to get up & take him back upstairs.  I'm creating a monster, but for now, my body needs to just lay there.  Heck, in a few months I'll be pulling all nighters nursing & changing diapers, so I can sleep train two now.

To explain my following thoughts, you  may need to be informed that the rain-cloud-in-my-life that made a sperm donation 5 years ago has decided to fight me on custody issues yet again.  That's right--as if life wasn't overwhelming with its upcoming changes of C starting VPK and expanding our family, I now have to prepare myself for a possible trip to court.  *This explanation may explain quite a few of the quotes I listed above :).

So here are my thoughts on that (prepare yourself for a possibly confusing rant that may or may not make sense to you)...

Being a parent is being selfless in all definitions of the word.  Schedules are rearranged around your child.  Your preferences may be put on hold for the sake of what would make your child happy.  We mold our lives around our children and their happiness.  A true parent will find happiness in knowing their child is happy.  Being told your child can't attend a family tradition 4th of the July fishing tournament is nothing but crap.  Being told that your child can't attend his best buddy's birthday party is nothing but crap.  Being told that the 'every other weekend' scenerio "doesn't fit into his schedule" and he'd prefer the "every other Thursday through Tuesday custody arrangement" which would disrupt C's elementary school week is absurd not to mention would uproot him from his current stable home.  We live literally right next door to C's potential elementary school.  The "rain cloud" thinks it works best for him to wake C early & drive him to school when he lives 45 minutes away.  I'm trying to rationalize with the irrational.  I swear I've earned my psychology degree based on field work with this individual.  I attend a meeting in one month to see if I can agree to his request.  If we do not agree (can I see hands of who thinks we'll agree?!?!), this matter will be sent through the court system.  This is healthy stress for a pregnant woman right?!  So needless to say, there have been lots of tears.  Lots.  As a stay-at-home Mom in about 3 months, I now have the extra financial stress of court costs, not to mention complete fear that C's life could drastically change for the worse.  Oh the tears...

My husband is a good listener and supporter--Bless him--but he's busy healing from a surgery & can't help with much of anything since he's on crutches.  I'm tired of carrying the load lately (again, not his fault).  He asked me what would make me feel better and my response was... "I need a vacation alone.  I also need the permission to send horrible individuals to a secluded island far, far away."  That's not too much to ask, right?!

It is rare that I use my babybook type blog to pollute it with negative energy & comments, but I needed to vent.  I will start a brand new post with sunshiney-positive energy paired with pictures of my favorite 4 year old very soon.  **I'm currently at work & unable to upload pictures, so stay tuned for a happy post**

I will end this rambling post with positive words.  I am grateful for all that I have.  I have faith that things will all be okay.

Now off I go home to rest my swollen, elephant feet. :) 

Fishin'

Although exciting fishing usually occurs on the family boat, little trips up to the causeway to fish with Papa spells fun for one little kid.  Nana does great supplying the snacks, I spend time worrying about C getting too close to the edge of the seawall, and Peewee is all over the place snacking, grabbing shrimp, tossing ice into the water, etc.  Our little trip included a nice surprise visit from Uncle Craig & Auntie Nicole.  It was beautiful weather & a simple, fun night out.

The three boys heading to a new fishing spot.

The big boys held the poles while the little boy spent time supplying the shrimp & chasing the pelicans.

They're big catch of the evening--Mr. Snapper.  Doesn't take much to excite my tiny fisherboy.

Randoms

With just a few minutes before we head out for Father's Day festivities with Poppy Charlie, I thought I'd toss up a few random pictures from the week.  I was surprised, but ever so delighted to have my munchkin home with me this Father's Day weekend.

This is the after school photo I received from Nana this week... Mr Cool Guy sportin' Nana's shades

C's new favorite pretend game in the tub-- He's Santa Claus & Nana is Mrs. Claus...

We are enjoying the fun Free Summer Bowling perks!  After school on Thursday, Matt & I took C for some bowling fun.  The bowling alley that I grew up going to has had a massive facelift, complete with giant arcade addition.  Between bowling games, we took an arcade break & guess what Peewee cashed in his tickets for...

A Whoopee Cushion!

Although I will never understand a boy's fascination with bodily gas, he is hilarious to watch him try to 'surprise us' and chuckle at the sound of the 'toots.'  Goob!

Whenever C mentions he'd like ice cream, Matt never complains!  We stopped for ice cream on our way home from bowling and enjoyed our sweet treats.  My child...he's adorable!

This photo surfaced recently on the Iguana Mia website after we went there for Matt's b'day last week.  I'm never a fan of the giant sombrero, but when you have a 4 year old-- you do funny things!

Connor enjoyed a cousin day yesterday at our pool.  While the 3 smurfs don't usually pose nicely for a photo, they had a great time playing together.  Looking forward to letting them play again today. 

Guilty

I confess.  I'm a blog slacker.  I'm not taking as many photos and if I do, they're on my phone.  My blogging went from 4 years ago when I'd blog daily to now maybe once a week on a Saturday or Sunday when Connor's not home.  Even then I don't look forward to blogging, because I'm 99.9999% of the time blogging about Connor...and when he's not home with me, it just makes me miss him more.  If I blog during the week when Connor is home, its a rush job to get my blog done, so I can be with him.  I'm hoping I find more time (who are we kidding here?!), more motivation to write, and more effort into my blog postings/photos.  I need to get my rear-in-gear, because once baby #2 arrives, I fear I'm going to crash & burn with my blogging/updates.  I can't let that happen.  This is my baby book for the world (aka close family & friends) to read.  Hopefully now that I admit my problem, I am on the first step to recovery!

So from the past week, we've survived.  Matt's attempt at returning back to work post knee surgery was a flop.  He tried to go back a few weeks earlier than planned & learned quickly his body was not ready for it.  So he's home 24/7 again.  We love eachother--very much so...but we know that we are not the couple that can spend alllllllll day and night together evvvvery day for twooooo weeks straight (plus 4 more until we reach his 6 weeks post surgery status).  We need our alone time, our time to watch what we want to watch on tv, our time to not have to carry on a conversation, etc etc.  With his leg limiting his help around the house, I'm working double (or triple since I'm caring for two boys + rapidly growing another one in my uterus), so I've definitely had my breaking points this week.  It all came barreling down on me last Friday when I learned the meaning of a migraine.  A serious sinus infection migraine.  I would have rather suffered going into labor pains than to have gone through having a migraine while still having to push through the pain & care for two boys.  I tried fighting off the sinus gunk without medicine (I'm anti-medicine during pregnancy), but once the migraines hit---I was literally on the phone with my Dr crying through the pain requesting an antibiotic before the weekend.  The drive to the pharmacy to pick up my antibiotic was pretty rough.  Light hurt--noise hurt--talking hurt.  Try explaining that to a sweet, chatty 4 year old in the backseat.  He saw my tears rolling down my face & my precious child told me he wanted to give me a hug.

So fast forward the week--my sinus gunk is gone, Matt is becoming a little more independent, and I've learned that I may not be able to do it all...and a break to sit down & put my feet up for a few minutes works wonders.

So here I am--22 weeks & counting.  I literally feel heavier than an elephant, but things are looking good.  My blood pressure is still low (my normal), the baby's heart rate is still around 150 bpm (also normal), and I don't have any major complaints (aside from being a heffer, not sleeping, hips hurting at night, peeing non-stop, feeling light headed, becoming winded when I take the stairs, leg cramps at night, slight swelling in my feet, boobs heavier than bowling balls, and a rear end that Connor likes to call "lumpy"). All is well :)  

This week also marks an important day.  Our Matt turned the big 3-5.  Connor and I had a blast making & decorating his b'day cake (Connor decided on a Toy Story/Sesame Street friend theme, as well as making the frosting into the pastel form of the 49ers' colors).  Matt's b'day party was complete with gifts wrapped in our favorite Pooh Bear & Toy Story gift bags.  We decided on the new tradition of being able to eat b'day cake for breakfast.  I mean, really-- we all want to do it, so why not make it a rule! :) Matt blew out his candles, then Connor wanted to have a shot at it, so I re-lit the candles & let Connor blow them out.  Birthday festivities are for kids anyway, right?!?!

I got tickets to the Scooby Doo Live Mystery Musical Show months ago, so Nana & I took our little Scooby fan last night!  What we do to make happy memories for our kids... The show was good, rather long, and had a story line that was rather in depth for a 4 year old, but Connor seemed to enjoy it.  Nana & I hang on to every reaction from Connor...if he's happy, we're happy!

So now its countdown time.  One hour and counting until I can go pick up Connor.  It never gets easier and time usually crawls by on these days, but I'm hoping to find some garbage reality TV to help pass the time.  Wish me luck!