a two team family...

Travis' parents sent the boys some much anticipated Georgia bulldogs T-shirts. They were so excited to have one like Travis.

Go Cougars and Bulldogs!

an afternoon in the mountains...

We took advantage of the beautiful perfect weather of Saturday to drive the Alpine Loop and see the fall leaves!

Yep...can you tell I have just 3 weeks left. I look a little large, but oh well...just focus on the pretty mountains in the background!

My parents came with us!
We tried to get a picture of us with our kids, but they were all being stinkers!

We took a little detour off of the loop to walk around Cascade Springs.

Can you see the baby bat? A lady pointed out this cute little bat hanging from a tree right off the path.

The kids had so much fun looking for fish and touching all kinds of wet and mossy things!

As I waddled behind the family I saw this little scene in front of me. Travis and his baby girl! She just adores her dad!

school pictures...

Noah's 1st Grade Picture

Zachary's kindergarten picture

stupid fly...

Okay I am ready for the freeze to come and kill all the flies! I am up in my bedroom where most flies don't quite make it. All except for this ONE. Oh doesn't he know that if he just left me alone he would live so much longer. Go buzz around in one of the kids rooms, go buzz in the loft, but NO he insists in circling my head! Watch out little stupid fly...your life just got a little shorter!

i'm finally finished...

It all started before Noah was born and my little sister Jenny crocheted him this blanket (below). I loved it! It quickly became his favorite, and to this day he still sleeps with it. When I was pregnant with Bailey Zach was just getting to the age where he wanted things that Noah had. He really wanted a "yellow blankie" like Noah. So I set to work trying to duplicate the "yellow" blanket except I changed one color. I switched out the blue for red. Then I thought I should just go ahead and make Bailey one. So I switched out the blue for pink. So once we found out we were having a boy I decided to make Max one. Noah came to me one day after hearing me talk about making more blankets and said that I should make a new one for him because his old one was to small for him. So....I have spent the last 4 months making Noah a new one with the origional blue stripe and Max one with dark brown instead of the blue. I am so pleased. They turned out pretty cute!

The origional "yellow" blanket

(top to bottom) Noah's, Zach's, Bailey's and Max's
(I don't know why blogger turned the picture sorry)

(left to right) Max's, Bailey's, Zach's, and Noah's

Wooohooo! It feels so good to be done!

heart update...

I had my follow up visit with the cardiologist today to get the results of my echo. He said, "This will be kinda good news for you and kinda bad news for your husband!" Everything they found normally wouldn't be a big deal except that being pregnant can make them worse if I am not careful! They found a "minimal" amount of fluid around my heart, and one of my lower heart chambers isn't completely emptying in between each heart beat like it should. I also have a higher heart rate generally over 100 beats/minute, and sometimes my heart will beat out of rhythm. He made it very clear that all of this is nothing to worry about generally, but told me that because I am pregnant I need to be very careful and take it easy. If I don't I will end up making my heart work too hard and that can cause further problems because of the increase in blood volume that comes with being pregnant. So...he said my husband needs to help out a lot more and I need to take it easy a lot more! Woohoo for me! If I continue to have problems after the baby is born then I will need to go back in, but if I don't then I should be just fine!

birds...

I love the wetlands behind our house! There is always something to look at. We have seen pelicans, blue heron, herds of deer, fox, and all sorts of other birds. The kids have found crayfish and other little creepy crawly things too. Every year we get to watch the different birds migrate. Usually in September these huge flocks of birds will hang around for a while. Well today I felt like I was in a scene from the Alfred Hitchcock movie "The Birds" Check out this video and you will see why.

motherhood...

One of the blogs that I love to check is called Beehive and Bird's Nest. This lady seriously cracks me up! So a few days ago she posted THIS. I actually thought about copying and pasting her words and taking the credit for them. She describes EXACTLY how I feel sometimes! She has 6 kids and the humor that she finds in the everyday life is just hilarious! She also has a food storage item a week list that someday I will get around to following! So read and enjoy!

I love her definition of motherhood at the end of the post: "Actually, I think that pretty much sums up motherhood. I want to scream, but I don't."

Amen sista. Sometimes I wanna scream, but I don't! (Well...at least not within earshot! That is what closets are for right?)

bailey's words...

Alligator=elevator
Costco=Cousco (the boys call The Emperor's new Groove Cousco)
Cinderellie=Cinderella
Pinkie Square=Pinkie Swear
The Laundry=Jumanji (the movie)

we have a date people...

I am scheduled to be induced on October 20th! Wooohooo!

my girl...

I have really been enjoying the mornings that I get to have with just my Bailey girl! Both of the boys are gone at school and so it is just me and her! She is my little buddy! Our favorite thing to say is, "Me and you, stuck like glue!" She giggles every time!

update...

My appointment went well today. The difficult part about trying to diagnose anything is that being pregnant kinda messes up most of the test results. "Do you get out of breath?" Why yes dr. going up the stairs almost does me in. "Do you notice a rapid heart rate?" Why yes dr. once again going up the stairs gets me every time! "Do you have chest pain?" Why yes Dr. but is it acid reflux, heart burn or legitimate chest pain? He said that if I wasn't pregnant there were a few tests that he would want me to have, but because I am pregnant it will alter the results. I am going in next week for an ecocardiograham on Tuesday. While listening to my heart he heard a heart murmer, but once again it could be caused by being pregnant. So for now it seems like there is not a whole lot that they can do until after the baby is born and my levels are back to normal. So that is the story for now.

Thanks so much for all of the love and supportive comments!

my heart...

Okay...so I hesitate even mentioning what is going on, but I am a basket of nerves this morning!

I have an appointment with a cardiologist this afternoon. I have been having heart troubles and mentioned it to my OBGYN about a month ago. I had an EKG and wore a holter monitor for 24 hours and now my appointment looms before me! The holter monitor was so not fun. I thought sleeping was difficult already, but try sleeping with 7 electrodes stuck to your chest with 7 wires coming out of the 7 electrodes and all hooking into a box that you wear like a belt. Then try to sleep while not unhooking any of the before mentioned electrodes and wires! I am so glad that it was only 1 night!

I am a stresser...so today...I'm a stressin people!! I have no idea what is wrong or what kind of tests they will want to do. I don't know how long I will have to wait, or if this is the first of many appointments. Deep down I don't feel like anything is seriously wrong, but the pain and symptoms I have been having are scarey. Probably more scarey because I am pregnant. So I keep telling myself that it is nothing and that I will return from this visit with the cardiologist and have a simple explination for the symptoms. Wish me luck!!

to cute not to share...

Last week I received a custom baby book that my sister-in-law Kerri made. It is so adorable!! She just listed her baby books for the fall on her etsy site. I just thought I would share her info with ya'll. Each book is handmade and she customizes each page with initials of family members, your baby's name etc...Her niche is that she specializes in cute, trendy, stylish not your everyday baby books. I have never seen books like these. They are really well made and her attention to detail is amazing. Every book has a very cute scrapbooked feel! She can even add blessing pages, baptism pages etc... I am so happy with mine! Plus, her prices are just awesome for a baby book! Here is a link to her site:

*Chic Memories*

Here are a few shots from the book she made for my Max!