It's in the air.

It's been warmer lately and we are so excited for spring.  The boys have been outside riding their bikes more and they'd rather do that than anything else most days.

Torrin started soccer Tuesday.  It's his first season and we are looking forward to it.  He is one of the smallest/youngest on his team.  So, even though he is pretty quick for his age, he may spend a lot of time trailing along behind the other kids, and that's fine!  It was the same thing with Hayden for his first season.  They group the kids in pre-K/K (in Kindergarten and going into Kindergarten), and then they do 1st/2nd, 3rd/4th, etc.  It's through parks & rec, so I'm sure it's different than AYSO.

One of the kids on Torrin's team is in Hayden's class at school, so I probably could have signed both boys up for the same team, but Hayden decided he wanted to do swimming this spring instead.  He'll start that at the end of the month, so it'll be M/W-swimming, T/Th-Soccer.    I'm starting to see how moms with older kids do so much running around.  Add Cub Scouts at age 8, and music lessons or whatever, and I may never be home once my kids are all school-age.

Last spring I spent a lot of time studying about how to make our lawn thick and green, and how to prune and take care of roses & grapes (we have a ton of them).  I also spent WAY too much time trying to manually thatch the front lawn with a thatching rake (Talk about back breaking work!).  Having limited resources, a baby, and a very busy husband meant I didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted to on the yard.  We didn't get to plant a vegetable garden (probably a good thing because there was just no time), but I was able to plant a few bulbs in the front yard.  I'm looking forward to having more time for yard work this spring; and there is  a LOT of work to do.

I found this in Hayden's backpack.

It's from his friend, Aly.  Seriously.  Can you get any cuter?

He said they could write notes to each other in class if they were done with their work.  He wrote the same thing back to Aly, and he said he also wrote, "Let's play dinosaurs tomorrow." (probably not spelled correctly) to his friend Kyson.  There is probably a dad somewhere wondering why his daughter has a love note from my son.  She started it!  LOL

Let's face it.

Most parts of pregnancy are not fun or glamorous.  Heart burn, bloating, constipation, morning sickness, nausea, swelling (gosh, I hope I don't swell this summer like I did with Hayden!), sciatica, etc, etc.  I am 14 weeks along and my morning sickness and dry heaving (for the most part--I still get some nausea here and there) has been replaced with the infamous 2nd trimester headaches--EVERY day.  BUT feeling that little lemon-sized baby do somersaults inside me makes everything worth it!  I tend to feel my babies early (maybe because I have a tilted uterus, or maybe because I'm just hypersensitive to movement--I can also feel myself ovulate and felt my ectopic pregnancy pretty early, when the ER doc told me it was too early to feel one).  Anyway, I felt Hayden move at 16 weeks, Torrin at about 14 weeks, and Grayson and this baby at 11 weeks.  Now that he/she is getting bigger, the fluttery movements are starting to feel more like kicks, jumps, and somersaults.  This is by far my favorite thing about pregnancy!  I've also had some of my energy return, which is awesome!  I'm still going to bed early most nights, but I have energy to do more around the house, and I even went to the gym twice this week so far.  I haven't really done any exercise since December, so it feels good to be doing something active again.

And can I just say?  I LOVE my midwife, Gretchen Faucett at Avenues Midwifery.  Every time I go in for an appointment I feel like I'm her only patient.  She talks to me like a friend and spends as much time with me as I need.  When I first switched to her at the end of Gray's pregnancy, Allen was a little skeptical about going with a midwife.  But she was amazing during the birth, and now Allen is completely converted.  LOL  She came in on her day off and spent time with me--rubbing my back and helping me get comfortable (Ha!  Well, as comfortable as one can get while in transition.)  It just makes me sad that we will probably move to another state before I have this baby.  :(  Wish I could take her with me!

Pregnant brain! I published this without adding the pictures first. Oops.

Hayden is just so photogenic.  I hope this baby has his coloring to even things out a little.  Not that I don't love my towheaded, blue-eyed boys--I just feel bad that they have to have my complexion.  

The forced smile.

It was really windy.  That's why he keeps looking toward the window.  The first video shows the smile he gives us when he's really trying.

The lovely thing about co-sleeping.

Waking up to someone smacking you in the face.  Who needs an alarm clock?  I'm going to have to figure out where to put Grayson when the baby comes because he won't sleep in his crib.

The "Perfect" Family.

**Disclaimer.  This post is not directed at any one specifically.  I think about these things all the time, especially when I'm pregnant and my emotions are out of control.**

It's a fact of life.  No matter who you are or what your family is like, people are going to make comments.  If you have 1 boy/1 girl or 2 boys/2 girls then it's, "Oh, how perfect!  So now you're done?"  If you have an only child then it's, "So when are you going to have another?"  If you have all girls or all boys then you'll hear, "You need a (insert opposite gender here)."  Or "Are you going to try for a girl/boy?"

It started for me when I was pregnant with Torrin.  I remember a complete stranger asking me (when she found out I was having my second boy) if I was going to "try" for a girl.  My thoughts were, "Did you really just write off my son that hasn't even been born yet?"  Like he doesn't "count" because we're not getting the opposite gender?  With each pregnancy it gets progressively worse.  The comments just keep coming.  It can be something as simple as immediately labeling my baby as "she" to asking if we're just "going to keep trying until (we) get a girl."  And each time the comments make me feel worse.  To the point where I feel like so many people will be disappointed if I don't have the gender THEY want me to have.  To the point where I am forced to tears.

I know people mean well.  Many are joking and most probably don't even know or understand the affect their comments have on people.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that I'm guilty of making a girl comment to my sister-in-law when I first met her.  (She has three AWESOME, respectful, kind, and well-behaved teenage boys and has done an amazing job raising them.  She's my hero!)  I guess that's the reason I'm writing this blog post--to let people know how their comments affect people, and to reiterate the point that there is no "perfect" family.  The "perfect" family is the one you're given--the one that's perfect for you.  I'm a firm believer that Heavenly Father sends us the children we need, no matter what gender they are, and the ones that need us.