I suck.....

at trying to keep this thing updated. Our lives are every so busy and when I do finally sit down at the computer, the last thing I want to do is recount the insanity of our schedules. Although, our schedules are slowly starting to slow back down, now that Tristen's school sports are over for the year, thankfully. Although we love watching him participate and compete, the boys' schedules started conflicting.

Tristen wrapped up his school sports with Track. He competed in the 800m and the 1600m, coincidentally, what I ran in track. He did fairly well, considering that he really wasn't 'excited' to be in track. It was one of those things that he started, but didn't want to finish. We have a rule in our house that once you start something, you have to finish it. I think in the end, he is glad he stuck with track. The track meets are a lot more fun than practice, which I think he quickly learned.

Colby's baseball is now in full swing which keeps us busy usually 4-5 nights a week between practices, weekday games, and weekend tournaments. Colby continues to excel in baseball, even playing an age group up. He has consistently been lead off batter all season long. He still mainly plays 2nd base, but does play catcher on occasion. He is about to play 16 games in 10 days!!! How crazy and assinine is that?!?!? Several of them are makeup games from rainouts we've had, so I CANNOT wait for May to be over!!!

Baby Corben is still cooking away. Tomorrow, I will hit 29 weeks. He'll be here in 11 weeks! Hopefully, those weeks fly by. Jason primed the nursery and he has one wall painted. Originally, we were going to do one wall orange and then the other 3 walls a light brown, but have since changed our mind that the orange may be too much. One wall will be a darker brown and the other 3 will be a light brown. I'm ordering wall vinyl ciricles to put on the darker wall, along with his name in wall vinyl. I have 2 showers coming up and possibly a 3rd at work. It has been mentioned, but not sure if it will happen as I said it wasn't necessary - STUPID...I know. (I have a really hard time with people doing things for me....and I have no clue why!!!) Jason and I did finally register, so that has been marked off my to-do list. I did order Corben's baby book and I absolutely LOVE it. It is the same exact fabric that I picked out for his custom bedding. Speaking of the bedding, I did get in back from the seamstress and I love it! I can't wait to get the entire room put together! Our search for a childcare provider and a pediatrician have begun. I'm pretty sure I've already found the pediatrician, but the childcare provider is going to probably be a daunting task. I do have a couple of leads for in-home providers, which is what I want. Jason and I just need to find a time to go meet with each one of them individually. We've chosen our pediatrician and so things seem to be progressing right along. We are in the downhill stretch and the next 11 cannot fly by quick enough!!!

We recently had to replace our stove b/c one of the burners (which has been giving us problems since we moved in) finally became dangerous. We called our Home Warranty company and they sent a company out to look at it. Well, the Home Warranty company didn't want to pay for the repairs since it was the same cost as a new stove. So....we had the option to either get a comparable model with no charge or to use the amount of the comparable model and upgrade (pay the difference) and purchase what we wanted. We chose the upgrade option and were able to purchase the stove through our Home Warranty company at their cost, which saved us about $200 (+ no tax, delivery or installation charges). So...........we get the stove but then we still have our yucky, white, builder grade over-the-range microwave. I found exactly what we wanted at Best Buy, but it was on backorder. Long story short, I finally found a Best Buy in Frisco that had the microwave in stock. Jason installed it and it looks fabulous. Now our kitchen is complete with all stainless steel appliances and looks fabulous. I'm so thankful that we've continued to renew our Home Warranty each year. While some people don't reap the benefit of a Home Warranty, we sure have. It has been benefical and saved us so much money. Our Home Warranty has replaced our garage door springs, water heater and now stove. Next up on our home renovation list are counters, backsplash and cabinets. We've pretty much made up our mind that we will be moving in 5-6 years - once the boys have graduated from high school. We aren't sure where, but most likely somewhere that we have have some land. We are contemplating buying a piece of land in the next few years and then building on it once we are ready to move. Not sure that this will really happen, but those are our current thoughts.....which I'm sure will change b/w now and then.

Here's a pic of the new stove/microwave and backsplash Jason installed! Love it!

Baby Updates

Well, since it has been over a month since I've updated this blog with anything, I'll start with some baby updates.

Baby Hopper has been determined to be a BOY! While we were not so secretly hoping for a girl, we've been blessed with another boy. My gut feeling was that it was a boy. I was born to be a BOYMOM. Baby Boy Hopper has been named. His name is Corben Keith Hopper. Corben has been Jason's boy name pick since I was about 8 weeks along. Originally, we were going to spell it with a "K", but Colby and Tristen's names. Keith is after Jason's dad. Both Tristen and Colby have part of Jason's name as their name, so it was only fitting that we carried on the tradition.

My pregnancy thus far has been so smooth. I really can't complain about it. The past 12 weeks have been blissful and I've felt great. More recently, I've had more aches and pains, but nothing to cry about or complain about. Today, I'm 23 weeks along and I can't believe a week from today I'll be 6 months pregnant. People at work are finally starting to feel comfortable asking me - when are you due? I don't see a lot of people at work and it isn't like I've made some big annoucement that I'm pregnant. The people I work directly with (which is only 4 executives) have known since I was 13 weeks. In the last 2 days thought, I've had 4 other people stop my and congratulate me. It is kind of funny to see their face when I tell them I'm almost 6 months pregnant. Here is a snapshot of how my bump has progressed:

 

We have started on the nursery. Well, I say started, we've purchased the furniture and it has been delievered, and I've ordered and shipped the fabric for our bedding to be custom made. I'm pretty sure I searched every baby bedding website out there and nothing really struck my fancy. I didn't want any characters or a specific theme. I'll post pictures of the bedding once we get it back from the lady who is custom making it. I can't wait to get it back so we can start painting the room and putting everything else together. I found the perfect lamp today, but didn't buy it just yet b/c I'm not sure what color we are painting the room. I may just go back and buy it anyways. Here is an idea board of what our plans are:

I guess I've now reached the nesting phase. Although, I don't know that I'd call it nesting b/c I'd still be doing it if I wasn't pregnant. I've cleaned out closets and organized crap that should've been organized a long time ago. I usually clean out the boys' closets every 3-4 months b/c they outgrow things so quickly. Yes, just like a baby, these boys are growing like weeds. Tristen has out grown 2 pairs of jeans since the end of January. What is that...a month and 1/2? Seriously? The kid won't quit growing. He's grown 3 inches since last year and I don't think he's stopped yet.

So, there you have it. A baby update. :)

Busy, Busy Weekend

We have a busy, busy weekend ahead of us. It is the start of the neverending Baseball Season. Colby's tournaments start this weekend. Tonight Colby has practice. I'm going to hang out with my baseball mom friends. Tomorrow Colby has a 9am game and I have a 10am dentist appt. We'll all head BACK to Grapevine for Colby's 1pm game. I just found out about a surprise b-day party tomorrow at 5:30. I'm not sure if we'll make that.

Then, tomorrow evening, my sister-in-law, Haylee and I are heading to Divine Cosign, which is a huge baby consignment sale. We actually get to go to the First Time Mom's pre-sale. I'm super excited. Although we don't know the gender yet, I can at least look for some things that are gender neutral. I'm not really looking for clothes. I'm more looking for the gizmos and gadets Baby Hopper will need. In other baby news, we had the name discussion again last night. Boy this is going to be hard. I thought we had made some progress the last time we talked names, but we are pretty much back at square one. I have a boy name that I like and he has a boy name that he likes. Neither one of us are crazy about the other's. Then there is a boy name that we both like, but isn't our #1 choice. Girl names.....is pretty much the same way. I'm 99% sure we already have the middle name for either one down.

Jason is making a lot of progress on his Beetle. My guess is it will be close to complete within the next month. I really hope I'm right. I'm ready for that thing to be FINISHED and I'm pretty sure Jason is ready for it to be done, too.

Other than baseball, babies, and the beetle, not much else is going on. We are planning a camping trip with several friends for the first weekend of spring break. Yes, I will be camping when I'm 5 months pregnant. LOL!

Pregnancy and Stupid People

I swear either people have suddenly become more stupid or I have absolutely no tolerance for stupid people anymore. Maybe stupid isn't the correct/"PC" word, but it is the word I'm going to use for this blog. I'm 99% sure it is due to pregnancy hormones, but I seriously am ready to fly off the handle and be THAT "pregnant lady".

Specifically speaking, Colby's new baseball team. I'm so put out with the coach and his wife. I'm trying to plan the poor kid's birthday party and we don't have a finalized schedule for his tournaments yet. In some roundabout blunt words, I specifically told these people that. I am trying to plan, and you say we have tournaments scheduled, but you can't give me a schedule. I will say I'm less than impressed with their organizational and efficiency skills in running this 'business'. If I send you an email with a couple of questions (two to be exact), please be so kind to answer ALL of the questions. My list could go on and on. Colby's birthday is Feb 13th. We will be out of town the 1st weekend in February and then he has tournaments the following 3 weekends, so I have no clue when he'll actually get to have his party. Tournaments are so unpredictable that you can't plan for anything on Saturday or Sunday, EXCEPT to be at the baseball fields.

Another thing, I'm pretty sure every day I get behind the stupidest/slowest drivers. This didn't happen before I was pregnant. I mean do I have a sign on my car that I can't see that says, "This lady is pregnant. Make sure to piss her off?" I'm sure I could make $$$$$ if I had a camera installed in my car that recorded all of my antics of screaming at people. It really doesn't help that I have a 26 mile (one-way) commute to work. I think I'm ready to move back to Wink (my hometown) where there were absolutely NO stop lights and the only time there was 'traffic' was after a Friday night football game.

Baby Update - 12 weeks

We had our 12 week appointment today and it was short and sweet. I'm actually 12 weeks 5 days today. I still don't have any belly pics to share, but I'm sure in due time I will. The Dr. appt went well. I've lost more weight since the last appt and I'm really not sure how that is possible. The morning sickness/all-day nausea has completely gone away and I'm eating 3 full meals + snacks throughout the day. The Dr. was not concerned at all; I think I'm actually more concerned than she is. The appt. was all of 10 minutes long. She asked me how I was feeling, have I had any problems, sickness, questions, etc. I have felt absolutely great the past 2 weeks. She got the doppler out to listen to the heartbeat and before she put the doppler on my stomach, she said, 'Now, it may take me a minute to find the heartbeat.' She put the doppler directly on my lower stomach and immediately you could hear the heartbeat. She said, 'Guess not, there it is beating very strong and it is moving around like crazy.' YAY!!!!!!!! Music to our ears. 8 weeks to go until we find out if we're having a little boy or little girl!

Our New Bundle of Joy.....

will be arriving sometime in late July. We are expecting and could not be more thrilled. I'm feeling pretty well, thus far. Morning/All-Day Sickness kicked in at about week 6, but it has mainly be nausea. My appetite has gone to the wayside and I'm pretty picky about what I want to eat, which SUCKS when it comes to grocery shopping/cooking dinner. I use to always bring my lunch to work and now it is a bit more complicated since my mind changes hour by hour on what even remotely sounds good. I'm surviving though.


We had our first Dr appt on Tuesday, 12/15. We were able to hear the heartbeat and get a sonogram. It made it so much more surreal. I had lost weight since my last visit, much to my surprise, but is completely normal. I feel like I'm eating all the time, but obviously I'm not. My estimated due date is July 22nd. We are *HOPING* for a little girl, but will be happy with either one. Both of my brothers are having little girls, not to mention my older brother has a daughter, so I hope I can continue the trend. :-) (I need some pink and frilly things in my life! LOL!!!!)

This post was written on 12/18/2009, but I finally got around to posting it now after I scanned in a picture of the sonogram. I'm now 11 weeks 4 days. My next appointment is a week from tomorrow! Can't wait to hear that heartbeat again!