It's a BOY!!!!

We were all really hoping for another girl to complete our family, we are very excited for our third son to join our family!  Campbell was the most excited saying, "I can't wait until he gets bigger and can play with us!"  Coleman reacted more like me with, "Aw man!  I wanted a girl!"  Addison is just excited to rub my belly and talk to the baby.  We even have a name picked out by our three children:

MIKEY PONYO HONE

We'll go with it until we come up with something we like better.  Addison was almost Sacajawea so Mikey Ponyo isn't too crazy.  We like the idea of a little buddy name - the little brother and we all know - "Mikey Likes It!"

 I will scan the ultrasound pictures and post them as well.  Our little Ponyo was proud to display his manhood in several pictures - no doubt he is boy all the way!

 More good news for our family...Coleman came home from school with a note stating he had been screened for the Gifted Program at his school and had scored at the 98th percentile on the Naglieri Nonverbal Abilities Test.  They would like to do further evaluation for placement in the Gifted Program.  We are awfully proud of him and of all our kids.  They are smart little whipper-snaps and we sure love them!

 

Leprechaun Traps

Being as crazy about books as we are - we have read over a dozen St. Patrick's Day books.  In one of these books there was a picture of Leprechaun Traps with a couple of sentences.  We read it over a week ago and I never gave it a second thought.  At dinner tonight, I was encouraging the kids to hurry and get dressed in their pajamas after bed so we would still have time to read books.  Coleman quickly informed me that we still had to make time to create our Leprechaun Traps.  As I returned home from a quick stop at the store, I found Coleman in one corner building a Lego Staircase up to a cylinder to trap one leprechaun and Campbell in another corner taping pennies all over a box as bait for the leprechauns.  They were so focused and absolutely adorable.  I will have to take some pictures of their traps and post them.  Luckily, Mommy was able to find some chocolate gold coins at the store hoping that will soothe the disappointment in not capturing a leprechaun.

It was like Christmas Eve here tonight.  The two boys whispering to each other in bed, "I sure hope we catch one."  "Do you think they really exist?"  "Yeah, but they are magic and have all kind of powers so it's gonna be hard to catch one."  "I sure hope we find them in our traps tomorrow."  "Me too!"  I wish I could just stop time for a little bit and keep them so innocent and believing.  I love these years.  No matter how overwhelming and crazy it feels at times - those moments make it worth it for me.

Well, I will hopefully be posting again in two days as we will know by then if we are having a boy or a girl.  We are still fingers crossed, hoping for a girl.  We'll see.  Whatever this baby is - it is active!!!  I feel it moving ALL the time.  Marc has felt it several times and the kids try but are pretty impatient. 

Addison LOVES to feel the baby - she is actually just rubbing my belly - but she calls it "feel the baby".  The only issue is that it has to be on bare skin.  So no matter where we are, that little minx is lifting up my shirt and rubbing my big ol' round belly.  My friend did point out that at least I should be grateful that I have no stretch marks so I should proudly bare my unmarred belly.  Oh - also Addison and I now have "Baby Buttons".  The boys and Daddy have belly buttons but ours - because there is a baby in there - are called baby buttons.

We have been reading a lot of books about having babies and one was all about our bodies and how babies are made and born etc.  We talked all about the proper names for things and talked about boys having sperm and girls having eggs.  Campbell got a shocked look on his face and declared, "Girls lay eggs!!???!!??!"  I'm still not sure that he is entirely convinced that I'm not going to lay an egg like a hen when I have this baby.  There were several other incredibly amusing comments made regarding our bodies and making babies and birthing babies but I think I will refrain from posting them - save my children the embarrassment down the road.

Here is Coleman when he lost his tooth.  That made tooth #7 for our big guy!

While out running errands, Addison and I stopped at a random park and enjoyed the sun!

Campbell had the great honor of babysitting Jack the Bear for his preschool class for a week.  He took his duty very seriously and was so sweet and patient with Addie who pretty much kidnapped Jack from day one and rarely let him go.

Love to you all and THINK PINK!  :)

Oops - Skipped a Month There!

I've decided that a blog is worse than a journal for me to try and keep it up. I always want pictures to add and they are usually still on the camera and I feel this need to go in chronological order so instead of sharing news of the kids Valentine's Day, I need to go back and discuss their Christmas. I need to just sit down and get it done no matter what pictures I add or what stories I tell. That is my new resolution for March!

February was a fun month!  My Mom and sister Melisa were able to come out for a short visit and endure some of Florida's coldest weather since 1956!  BRRRR!  Too cold and wet to do much but we did get to enjoy seeing "The Tooth Fairy" and "The Princess and The Frog".  We love going to movies but don't get the chance to go too often so it was a lot of fun!  I forgot to bring out my camera until the last day before Melisa headed to the airport.  Mom had already flown home so we didn't snatch any pictures of her but next time we will!  The kids enjoyed wrestling with their Aunt Moose!

The day after Melisa flew home we welcomed our best buddies The Johnsons!!!  We felt bad that their visit was rainy and cold as well!  But we did get to live it up in Disney World! I will have to do a separate post for that one with all of the pictures.  The kids loved playing with The Johnsons - Coleman was thrilled with every Mario Kart race against Bro Johnson.  And they loved finally getting to spend time with their best little friend Danika.  And Marc and I FINALLY got to play games!  Other than Canasta with Mom & Melisa, we have had a definite dry spell in the game arena which was quickly flooded with late game nights every night for nearly two weeks!  It was BLISS!

It was a couple of weeks between the Johnson's visit and the visit from Penny & the Fugal Clan.  It's all thanks to Facebook that I was able to sway the Fugal women into coming to Tampa, Florida to see Wicked.  Who would have thought the freezing cold weather would still be among us???  Everyone promised warmer weather any day but the cold temperatures have lingered on killing the wildlife, citrus and my dreams of a comfortable winter.

I had seen on Facebook that Penny and her sisters and mother were planning a trip to see Wicked and were trying to decide where to go.  I quickly begged and pleaded for them to join us in Florida and for Marc and I to join them at Wicked.  I had been interested in seeing it but didn't know if it would happen with me just trying to convince Marc.  But, they said Yes to Florida and somehow Penny wrangled up the best seats in the house!  We were in the very front row - dead center!  It doesn't get any better.  A little freaky when someone from the orchestra pops their head up and you are looking them straight in the eye but exciting nonetheless! 

I didn't know anything about Wicked before we went but have become obsessed with the soundtrack ever since.  And we ended up using a babysitter for the first time ever that wasn't a family member or close friend.  It was a fabulous night and I'm still kicking myself that we didn't take any pictures - not only of that night but of Penny's entire visit!  But Penny has promised to come again very soon and we will be snap happy then!

Ok - quick update on everyone:
Coleman: He is doing absolutely fantastic in school.  He is working hard and learning a lot.  He has made several friends and is praised often for his behavior as well as academics at school.  He misses having friends in the neighborhood where he could just walk to their house and having boys in his primary class but all in all he seems to be enjoying himself.

Campbell: He is a little reading maniac.  He is my little sponge who just can't get enough of everything right now in life.  He loves to learn but is still rather quiet in groups.  He has made some fun friends in his preschool class and had the greatest night ever when he and his dad had Father's Night at the preschool.  He is best friend to both Coleman and Addison right now. 

Addison: If I had just a touch more energy, that child would be completely potty-trained.  She is doing a fantastic job using the toilet and she is the one requesting to use the potty - all the time.  We finally bought some pull-ups so now when she begs to go it will be much easier than fighting a diaper while we are out and about.  Hopefully it will continue to go as smoothly as it has been - fingers crossed.

Baby #4: We thought we would be seeing the specialist by now but we weren't able to get in until mid-March.  So we will let you all know on March 18th if we are having a little girl or a little boy.  Other than still being tired and a bit emotional at times,  things have been going well.  They will check on the SCH which hopefully will have resolved itself as I will be 20 weeks and that is the goal!

Marc: Work has been incredibly stressful for the last few weeks.  They are working on switching to a new computer system and we all know how computer glitches go.  My poor, sweet husband has been working like crazy and not getting much chance to relax.  Between his numerous church callings, his work responsibilities and the never-ending drama at home - he is exhausted!  Hopefully, things will start running more smoothly and we can even dream of a little vacation somewhere!

Me: I'm tired and cold or maybe cold and tired.  Our heater went out and we were bitterly cold for a few days and nights but our kind landlord is having the entire unit replaced which will not only hopefully warm us up but also save us quite a bundle in heating and a/c.  I've finally broken out the maternity clothes and feeling more pregnant.  I've been able to feel the baby move for the past month or so.  Apparently we have quite the mover so I can only imagine what it will be like when instead of flutters and gentle touches, we have the full on kicking and punching and rolling around. 
When I went for my last appointment, I had a minor scare when the nurse couldn't find the heartbeat.  I was already rather concerned due to the SCH but with no heartbeat I was kind of freaking out.  Turns out that our baby is constantly on the move which made locating a heartbeat a bit of a challenge.  But wonderful to finally hear it!

Well, that was my attempt to catch you up just a tad until I can add more details and pictures.  Miss you all and love you to death!  I'll sincerely try to do better and just posting - at least once a week is my goal.  It might help if y'all commented once in awhile so I knew someone actually read this thing!  :)