Baby Update

I realized that I have not really blogged much about this pregnancy, no reason really, just not alot to say. It is flying by, I can't believe that in about 2 months, I will have 3 boys. But we are getting really excited to meet this little guy. I guess also, I should tell you guys the name, in case you don't already know, calling him "new baby" can only last so long. We have decided on Declan Jacob. Declan is an Irish name that means "man of prayer." How I would love if he grew into a strong man of prayer, and we just like the name Jacob, no big meaning there.

I feel pretty good, and am getting big, or as my neice Sophie told me this weekend, I am getting really fat. Yes, thanks for noticing. This baby is higher than any of my other pregnancies, so I think I look alot bigger than I ever have (my mom seemed shocked this weekend by the size of my belly, and the fact that I still have 2 months to go). Yes this weekend did alot for my self image. Anyway, no new stretch marks yet, so I guess things are going ok.

For the first time ever, in the history of my four pregnancies, I passed my glucose test! I didn't think it was possible, but it happened. WooHoo!! No 3 hour test, and no gestational diabetes. It was a huge relief. Yes, I am still having lots of contractions, but my doctor is choosing to ignore that, which is just fine by me.

I think in the next couple weeks, we will put the crib up and get his room ready. Also, we need to do some kind of serious shopping because we gave away all of our boy stuff (again thinking we would never be in this position again). It is ok because getting him new things has really helped me get more excited about him being a boy. I find great relief in retail therapy (shallow, I know). So, I think that is about it. For those of you who want to marvel at the belly, I will try and post a picture later. So that my friends is your baby update!

Kindergarten

So, we managed to put off the decision about what to do with Brandon for school for one more year by doing a transition year at his preschool. It has been very good for him, and he seems much more ready for kindergarten. Now comes the decision. We are fortunate to live in an area with great public schools, but we have always talked about how we would like our kids to go to a private school for at least a while. The private schools in our area are very expensive. I am not a homeschool kind of mom, nothing against it, just don't think I have it in me, so what to do?? Cue the University Model School or UMS for short. We have in our area a UMS about 2 miles from our house. It is a newish concept in education, (introduced about 15 years ago), where students go to class on a university schedule, and then do work at home the days they are not in class with a teacher. There are so many positives to this for us, it is a private school, shares our values, has classroom time so the kids get social interaction, but we get to be more involved in their education. Oh, it is also half the cost of the private schools in our area. So Brandon will go to school 2 days a week and then he will do work at home 2 days a week. We are all very excited about this school, including Brandon. It was so cute, he had to do an "essay" with his application, and one part was "tell us 3 things about yourself." Well, one of his things was "I like to be at home." I think that pretty much sums it up.

So, what is the catch?? Well, I am a little worried about Ryan. He will be in preschool on one of the days that we work at home, but the other day, I will have all 3 boys to contend with while trying to teach Brandon. New baby, not really worried about him, but Ryan concerns me. So, dear blog readers, I know some of you homeschool and have many more children than I do (Janet, Nicki), and you guys who don't homeschool just have good ideas. What the heck do you do with the younger ones while you are working with the older ones. I have started looking for some manipulatives and other special "school" things for Ryan that he can only play with when Brandon is doing school work, but I don't want to waste my money and that stuff is super expensive. Also, Ryan is not great at entertaining himself, especially if Brandon is getting alot of attention. So, I am open to suggestions. Thanks in advance!! But all in all, I think kindergarten is going to turn out to be a great year for Brandon and our family.

Two Things

So, there are two things that people in New Orleans know how to do really well, eat and have a good time. Fortunately, we really enjoy both of those things too, so we had a great time this weekend. We packed up the truck and drove to NOLA this weekend to see Laurie and her family. My sister had a CME conference to go to at Tulane and asked if we would give her a ride to New Orleans, and not wanting to let her down, we decided to make a little vacation of it for ourselves. Once again, when we visit there, we packed as much into the few days we had as is humanly possible. We had an awesome time, and now all of us need a really long nap.

Friday, we went to the zoo which was fun to do with Chris, since usually when we go at home, he is at work. After we got home, we had a crawfish boil. So, with 5 adults eating crawfish (Kelly and I skipped the crawfish), they polished off 35 pounds of the little creatures. But Chris got to participate in his first actual cooking of the crawfish with Joey which I know he really enjoyed.

Saturday, we just spent most of the day playing with the kids outside and enjoying the great weather. That night, Laurie bribed Emma to babysit the 3 kids, and we went out to dinner at a great place called Jacques-Imo's. Chris, Joey, and Laurie had about 7 different kinds of seafood like shrimp, oysters, grouper, and some other things, Kelly and I indulged in a deep fried roast beef po-boy. Then we had the best fried chicken I think I have ever had. The owner of the restaurant came in the dining room and led us all in some Christmas carols (it is possible he had been drinking just a little bit) and then came over and talked to us for a while (that is the bearded guy in the picture). Later, some guys were carrying him through the bar "superman style." I think he enjoys his job.

Sunday, we went to our very first Mardi Gras parade, and yes, I know Mardi Gras is still 3 weeks away, but the parties start early there apparently. At first, the boys didn't know what to think, but then they figured out that people would throw stuff like beads, and little toys at them and they got all excited every time a float came by. We came home last night, and all too soon it was back to real life. Our visits there always go too fast, but if they lasted too much longer, Chris and I would both weigh 500 pounds with all the eating we do when we are there, and we would all be very very sleep deprived. Thanks for a great weekend Laurie and Joey!!

Please Pray

Hey everyone, I would like to ask that you please pray for our family in Northern Arkansas (Flippin to be exact). They were in the line of that horrible ice storm that went through the country, and they are feeling the effects. They currently do not have power, a tree fell on their house, and they are camping out with some friends up the road. Please pray...

*That their power comes on back on sooner rather than later. I remember being without power after the hurricane, but it was 80 degrees outside, not 20, so not quite the same. The company is estimating a month for their power lines to be repaired.

*That in the meantime, their house suffers no further damage, such as frozen pipes, or other issues from no electricity in the middle of winter.

*That they will be comfortable where they are staying. The family they are staying with truly have the southern hospitality thing down (we stayed with them last year around this time for Willie's wedding) and had a wonderful time, but things can get kind of old after a few weeks of being out of your element. But this is really a praise that they have such wonderful friends, and friends with power at their house.

So, the next time you see an icicle, or one on TV for all my Texas readers, please think of them. Thanks so much!!