Saturday, May 30, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
May Days
We've had such a good time this month with each other. We've been really making a point to spend more time together as a family and as I look over what we've done this month, I think we have been successful. Since I feel as though I'm a good list maker, I'll write everything in a list form...
1. Mother's Day/My Birthday
These two events usually fall on the same weekend, and this year it did again. We stayed at home for the 'events' because I had just gotten back from my Bahamas trip and we wanted more low-key time together. We had some people over for Mother's Day evening and we ordered out pizza, blew up the jumping castle and had a great time watching the kids run themselves ragged while the women sat and visited. For my birthday, Mallory and I made a birthday cake. She associates birthdays to cakes, so for her sake, we had the cake. Lord knows we didn't need it (the baby poundage sure is comin' on quickly this go around...)!!! Anyway, she sang me happy birthday, in addition to several other people who called that day. It was very special and lots of fun.
1. Mother's Day/My Birthday
These two events usually fall on the same weekend, and this year it did again. We stayed at home for the 'events' because I had just gotten back from my Bahamas trip and we wanted more low-key time together. We had some people over for Mother's Day evening and we ordered out pizza, blew up the jumping castle and had a great time watching the kids run themselves ragged while the women sat and visited. For my birthday, Mallory and I made a birthday cake. She associates birthdays to cakes, so for her sake, we had the cake. Lord knows we didn't need it (the baby poundage sure is comin' on quickly this go around...)!!! Anyway, she sang me happy birthday, in addition to several other people who called that day. It was very special and lots of fun.
2. Potty Training
This sort of coincides with Mother's Day/My Birthday because Mallory decided to pee pee on the potty on her own volition on Mother's Day evening. So, I figured I had to jump on the wagon and spent my entire birthday (day after Mother's day) cleaning up pee pee messes as Mallory entered full-fledged potty training. We had 3 days of accidents galore, but since then, she's been pretty-much accident free. We still haven't achieve a BM on the potty, but she sleeps at night with panties on (unless she changes her own diaper) and we're so proud of her. All my friends were right in telling me to wait until she's ready. It's made the transition a whole heck of a lot easier.
3. Kids Play Day
We went up to the fair grounds near our house for a kids play day that included some little field activities, fire trucks, ambulances and a bounce house. Though it wasn't REALLY all that spectacular, the kids were a little taken aback at the enormity of the fire truck. We had just gotten a book about trucks (which we point out ALL the time) and the fire truck is one of the trucks. Pretty cool.
4. Grandparents
We've hosted both sets of grandparents this month for special visits with the kids. Mallory and Ethan are really enjoying their Gommy, Poppy, Grams and Pops very, very much. I love seeing them form relationships and hearing the kids talk about them in their absence. It helps to share a couple days a week on the webcam (with my folks...not Patrick's yet), which the kids HIGHLY enjoy. If you haven't discovered Skype, discover it! (...no pics of grandparent's visits...).
June brings us lots and lots of adventures. Mallory starts her first VBS during the second week of June followed quickly by a week vacation with Daddy, half of which will be spent in PA visiting Patrick's side of the family and half the time at home visiting attractions around here (there are SEVERAL, if you don't know...but that's for another post).
OK...I think I'm somewhat caught up on the bloggin' now...
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Our sonogram was today!
We found out this morning that our 3rd child will be a boy. We were both feeling pretty confident going into the ultrasound that it was a girl. It's funny that we felt that way because there was no evidence whatsoever to lead us to that belief. But, needless to say, we were shocked that it is a boy and are very excited because he looks healthy. We're thankful for this little miracle.
We're seriously considering names for this little guy to have a profound meaning to what he has meant to our lives, even in his brief 18.5 weeks of life. He's brought our family together in a way that we never knew or realized he would. God has used him in so many significant ways already and we pray that we'll find a name that truly reflects what he means to us. We've already been looking and discussing and have found some good ones, yet we're not close yet to nailing it down. I enjoy the time when the name is set because I feel even more tied to the baby than I already am. We still have plenty of time, though.
We're seriously considering names for this little guy to have a profound meaning to what he has meant to our lives, even in his brief 18.5 weeks of life. He's brought our family together in a way that we never knew or realized he would. God has used him in so many significant ways already and we pray that we'll find a name that truly reflects what he means to us. We've already been looking and discussing and have found some good ones, yet we're not close yet to nailing it down. I enjoy the time when the name is set because I feel even more tied to the baby than I already am. We still have plenty of time, though.
Bahamas!
I was able to have 4 days off from my every-day life and spend some quality time with my best friend. We both hadn't 'gotten away' since our last get-away together in the winter of '06 when we went to Charleston for a weekend...while I was pregnant with Mallory. I hadn't seen Kristin in almost 2 years and we both just needed girl time. I was getting very bogged down with stuff plaguing my responsibilities as a wife and mother. I felt so overwhelmed and just longed for a break. My husband lovingly took on my responsibilities for a few days as he saw my need and selflessly met it. Kristin was just finishing up a crazy semester of school and was about to start an intensive schedule in her first semester of Nursing school at UNF and wanted to get away from her responsibilities before life went into overdrive. Our situations peaked at the same time and we were able to coordinate our calendars for 4 days together.
I flew down to Jacksonville on Thursday night, April 30, and then we left on Friday morning, heading south towards Cape Canaveral where we boarded a Royal Caribbean ship and sailed away for a few days in "paradise". The weather was perfect...low '80s, sunny with a glorious breeze off the ocean. We dined, we slept, we ate, we sunned, we walked, we shopped, we talked and talked and talked. We read little, though both of us had brought two books. We slept a lot, heading to bed each night a decent time to get a full night's sleep and even napped one day. We enjoyed the beach in CocoCay, basked in the glorious sunshine and marveled at the beauty of God's creation. Oh, what we saw and experienced down there in the sand and sea TRULY showed what an incredible Creator we have!
I have so many little stories, but it would take me lots and lots of time to write it all. BUT, to name a few:
1. We stopped at a McDonalds on the way down to use the restroom and while we were there, a child came in a threw up all over the bathroom floor.
2. We walked behind an old guy in the ship who was flatulent
3. We got placed at a table for the duration of our cruise that had 3 small children. We quickly asked for another seating arrangement, which was pleasantly granted to us.
4. Our phones were connected to a satellite that displayed it being mid-October 1999 and the time was about 3 hours off what the actual time was; it caused for a very confusing night as we really tried to figure out what the time REALLY was (thinking it was 5 am when it was really 8 am)...
5. We had room service every morning except the last. We sat in our beds, sipping our tea and coffee chatting about vast arrays of topics for at least an hour before we dressed and met the day.
6. We never conflicted about where to go, when to sleep, when to eat, when to shop, when to sun...it was so relaxing and perfect.
I can't wait for our next venture. I'm so blessed to have such a good friend and am so thankful to our husbands for keeping our kids and holding down our respective "forts" so we could be together.
I flew down to Jacksonville on Thursday night, April 30, and then we left on Friday morning, heading south towards Cape Canaveral where we boarded a Royal Caribbean ship and sailed away for a few days in "paradise". The weather was perfect...low '80s, sunny with a glorious breeze off the ocean. We dined, we slept, we ate, we sunned, we walked, we shopped, we talked and talked and talked. We read little, though both of us had brought two books. We slept a lot, heading to bed each night a decent time to get a full night's sleep and even napped one day. We enjoyed the beach in CocoCay, basked in the glorious sunshine and marveled at the beauty of God's creation. Oh, what we saw and experienced down there in the sand and sea TRULY showed what an incredible Creator we have!
I have so many little stories, but it would take me lots and lots of time to write it all. BUT, to name a few:
1. We stopped at a McDonalds on the way down to use the restroom and while we were there, a child came in a threw up all over the bathroom floor.
2. We walked behind an old guy in the ship who was flatulent
3. We got placed at a table for the duration of our cruise that had 3 small children. We quickly asked for another seating arrangement, which was pleasantly granted to us.
4. Our phones were connected to a satellite that displayed it being mid-October 1999 and the time was about 3 hours off what the actual time was; it caused for a very confusing night as we really tried to figure out what the time REALLY was (thinking it was 5 am when it was really 8 am)...
5. We had room service every morning except the last. We sat in our beds, sipping our tea and coffee chatting about vast arrays of topics for at least an hour before we dressed and met the day.
6. We never conflicted about where to go, when to sleep, when to eat, when to shop, when to sun...it was so relaxing and perfect.
I can't wait for our next venture. I'm so blessed to have such a good friend and am so thankful to our husbands for keeping our kids and holding down our respective "forts" so we could be together.
Mallory's Birthday
Mallory turned 3 on April 19 (like I mentioned over a month ago...). We had debated long and hard over what we would do for her birthday, either have a party or just do a special family event. Mallory still has a lot of problems warming up to people other than family, but we decided at the last minute to go ahead and try a party for her. We had purchased an inflatable bounce house for her and invited just a few of her friends over to play. There were just a few kids here...5 including Mallory and Ethan...and it was the perfect mix for her to enjoy her gifts and for me to prepare food without too much stress! Mallory had a blast and since then we've enjoyed many backyard gatherings surrounding the bounce house.
It's hard for us to believe that she's actually 3. How does time move so quickly?
For more pictures, go here.
It's hard for us to believe that she's actually 3. How does time move so quickly?
For more pictures, go here.
Hello, Blog. My name is Melanie.
Has it been 3 weeks since I've blogged??? Really??? I didn't realize how much I was in to Facebook until I realized how long it's been since I've blogged.
I'm back, for now...
Here's my little Gator Girl:
Friday, May 8, 2009
Back in the swing...
Gosh, I have so much to blog about. And I better get to it before everything slips my memory. I'm drowning in pictures over here and I have so many to post! I'm currently finishing up a photoshoot that I had almost 2 weeks ago and then I have pics from Mal's birthday and my Bahamas trip to sift through. As I start sifting, I'll blog.
Tonight, I'm anticipating the start of my birthday/Mother's Day weekend. Patrick is taking me out to dinner while the kids will be at a missions event at church (Missionaries are raising money doing a "Parent's Night Out"). It will be a nice start of the weekend, though I don't think there are any other plans at the moment except good ol' family time...
Anyway, I've hit the ground running and there's so much to do, like always. I'm 4 months pregnant this weekend and we find out the gender of our little guy/gal in a few weeks. Once we know that info, we'll start on getting the rooms reorganized to best suit our needs for a newborn and 2 toddlers. We're still trying to figure it all out, but we're DEFINITELY keeping the master bedroom in tact (not ready for that sacrifice yet, Kelly!).
Like always, more to come...
Tonight, I'm anticipating the start of my birthday/Mother's Day weekend. Patrick is taking me out to dinner while the kids will be at a missions event at church (Missionaries are raising money doing a "Parent's Night Out"). It will be a nice start of the weekend, though I don't think there are any other plans at the moment except good ol' family time...
Anyway, I've hit the ground running and there's so much to do, like always. I'm 4 months pregnant this weekend and we find out the gender of our little guy/gal in a few weeks. Once we know that info, we'll start on getting the rooms reorganized to best suit our needs for a newborn and 2 toddlers. We're still trying to figure it all out, but we're DEFINITELY keeping the master bedroom in tact (not ready for that sacrifice yet, Kelly!).
Like always, more to come...
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