It's Starting......

Thank you, Meem, for staying up with me last night texting away!  I started having contractions every few minutes for a little over an hour.  I was in bed trying to let Les sleep in case I'd have to wake him up to take me to the hospital......which meant I couldn't talk on the phone.  SO, I just kept texting my mom over and over.  The problem with that was that we ended up texting about something funny that happened with my dad earlier that night, and then I started laughing.  That made me really scared that the contractions were going to get worse.  They stopped around 11ish, and I tried to get some sleep.  Let me remind you that I would have been very excited that this was happening and maybe even running up and down the stairs except for the fact that I'm 35 weeks.  I think he needs to stay put for a few more weeks, at least!!  I was scared to move!  So, all my girls around me better keep their phones on and near them in case we need you to come take over!  

Moving Day!!!

It's official!!!  We are in our new house!  Are we settled?  Not even a little bit.  I have told some of you this already, but this is how I feel.......I've got a full refrigerator and pantry, my washer and dryer work, and I have toilet paper in the bathrooms........I am golden!!!  Everything else can happen when it happens.  I'm not rushing anything.  Partly because I loathe being in a rush, and partly because I don't want to go into labor just yet.  

Carter and Micah have adjusted surprisingly well to the new house, and I give all the glory to the Lord.  It is only through Him that they are handling this so well.  However, Micah did have one freak out moment.  It was July 18th, moving day, and I had brought them over to the new house to take naps.  Carter didn't take one (no surprise there), but Micah was out like a light after I laid down with him for a little bit.  When he woke up, he was crying, kind of swaying, and just couldn't get any words out.  I kept asking him what was wrong, and he kept saying "nothing".  He just couldn't put it into words.  I felt so bad for him.  I gave him extra hugs, and the Lord gave me extra patience for him that day.  Since then, he hasn't had any problems.  Carter and Micah play ALL DAY LONG here!  Don't they know that those are the same toys that we had in our other house?  Maybe they look different here.  Grampy and Hershey did get them some new "Cars Movie" cars and Tinkerbell card games.  They have been a hit.  Another huge hit...........our neighborhood pool!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have got to take some pictures and put them on here.  It's like their own little waterpark!  

We absolutely love it out here!  We feel God's peace (which we've prayed for in all of the places we have lived) every time we drive up to the house.  By the way, Les has no idea that I'm typing this blog right now and he just said, "I love our house."  Actually he said it in a much funnier way, but he'd be so embarrassed if I told y'all the goofball way he said it.  

We've met lots of young families in our neighborhood, and have started praying for the neighbors and houses that will one day surround us.  Right now, there isn't anyone on either side of us or across the street from us.  That's right.........we can actually feel the wind out here!!!  LOVE IT!!  

this is what they did while we were moving......watching movies

this is where Micah and Carter took their first naps in their rooms

Carter helping me get my kitchen in order......still in her pjs  :)

....and we've got our first black eye

   Let me just say that I would bet my life that this wasn't Micah's favorite day of his life today.  It started out at 3:00AM when I heard him wailing on the monitor.  Now, every now and then I hear him fussing about not being able to find his favorite green blanket, but this was different.  As I was traveling to the back of the house, all these images of what I might find kept flashing in my mind.  Is his leg stuck in the railing?  Did he somehow fall out of his crib?  When I got there, his closet light was on (he can reach it, so he likes to turn it on and off.......why he was doing this at 3 in the morning......beats me), and had what I thought was drool dripping off his chin.  No, it was vomit.  Nice.  He is crying and says, "I need medicine!"  So cute and so sad!  I asked him what happened and he said "nothing" and he kept saying that nothing hurt.  I didn't know what in the world happened...........until I saw the side of his crib.  Vomit all down the side of it.......but on the bright side, it was chunk-less!  Score!  I cleaned him off, and since he was telling me he needed new pjs, I went ahead and changed those too.  So, I rocked him for a bit, wondering where he should sleep, when I heard round 2 about to blow.  I must've looked funny being 8 months pregnant, sleep hair (which resembles Mufasa's mane), running a vomiting child through our hallway.  Poor buddy.  Needless to say, he slept in our room last night.  I take that back.  He spent from 4:00-7:00 in our room throwing up and asking if it was morning time so he could play.  I am so happy to say how blessed I am to have a husband who, for some reason, loves to take care of the kids when they are sick.  It is seriously one of his favorite times to be with them.  Thank you Jesus!!!  He is not kidding.  He did the running the rest of the morning.  Thank you Les.  You're so sweet!  

   Once morning was here, he was a different child.  He was running around like any normal child who had slept all night long.  Crazy!  We stayed around here all day and needed to get out, so we went to our church to play on the playground in there.  After they got used to the steps and slides, they were having a ball.  I had given the 5 minute warning when I looked in at Micah just in time to see him lose his balance and fall forward, smacking his face right on the edge of the slide.  I've never seen a 6'2" grown man travel so fast up an indoor playground that is made for 4 yr. olds in all my life.  All Les heard was the BANG, Micah crying, and he turned into Gumby getting himself up all those twists and turns.  Y'all, his face was bruised in the 5 seconds it took Les to get to him.  I felt so terrible!!!  It's right under his left eye.  I am thanking the Lord that he didn't knock his teeth out, or really hurt his actual eyeball.  Thank you, Jesus, for the angels that you put around my children!!  I have to say, though.......he does look pretty tough.  Here's a picture of it.  It's not too bad, but it's torture to a mama looking at my sweet son's face with a big bruise on it.  

Look at that sweet face!

Why do our kids have to get hurt?  I just wish I could spare them from all pain, but then I guess they would be a bunch of pansies.  (Did anyone just say "a bunch of pansies" in the lemur voice from Madagascar??  Just me?  Ok.)

It's That Time Again!

Y'all, Micah really thinks he is smiling when he makes this face!

I look forward to this time all year............our annual trip to Schlitterbahn!!!!  This is something that Les and I have been doing since we got married.  Before we had kids, we would go to Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, spend all day there acting like kids, and go home the next day.  We like to live like Peter Pan and never grow up!   Since we've had Carter and Micah, we've gone to the Schlitterbahn in Galveston.  Not this year!!  We decided to take a little family vacation to San Antonio (our last vacation as the 4 of us), so it was a perfect time to venture back to the original Schlitterbahn.  Oh my stars, I think I had a smile plastered on my face the whole day.  Since the kids are 4 and 2, I didn't have to do everything for them.  Les and I got to sit on the side of whichever kid park we were at and watch these two buddies play, play, play!  It made my heart so happy and thankful that God had given them to each other as more than just sister and brother.  They truly are best friends.  In fact, I actually heard those words come from Carter's mouth.  "Micah, are we best friends?"  I held my breath until he answered, "yes".  Then I wanted to cry happy tears.  Back to our fun-filled day......we got there about 10:15 and didn't leave until after 5:00.  Micah took a short nap after lunch with Papa, but Carter played the whole time!  (well, besides lunch and snacks of course).  Poor girl, at the end of the day, Les and I noticed she was walking like she just got off a horse.  We soon figured out that her swimsuit had rubbed the inside of her legs raw.  We felt so bad, but she didn't really fuss about it.  Needless to say, we dropped it!!  We had so much fun, and I can't wait to go back next year with little Toby!!!

Carter going down one of many slides

Micah following right along after her

Les eating his traditional turkey leg

this is how she was walking at the end of the day

After we left the waterpark, we headed to our hotel on the Riverwalk.  We spent the next three days swimming at their pool, feeding the ducks on the river, more swimming, and going to the Mirror Maze!!  Carter had been talking about the Mirror Maze ever since she knew we were going to San Antonio.  Grampy and Hershey (my parents) took us there a few months ago, and she couldn't wait to go back.  I loved watching our kids have so much fun on our family vacation!  When it was finally time to come back home, Carter was NOT happy about it.  I'm so glad we got to spend that time together as a family before the new baby comes.  

this is outside of the Mirror Maze

me and my little buddy (why are these words blue?)

Carter and Papa