Food. . .glorious food!

I'm not a big "craver" when I'm pregnant, but lately there are some things I've HAD to have in the last few months. . .

grapes. . .mmm. . big, juicy, green or red, why am I craving these in the middle of winter when they cost like $4 a pound??

tomatoes. . . on just about everything

avacadoes. . .I've always been a fan, but lately they're like the tomatoes. . .on EVERYTHING, or just plain.

bacon. . .I've had a LOT of BLT's. . .actually BLTA's (can't forget the avacado!)

Dove truffle eggs. . .no surprise, pregnant or not

Izze. . .it's my thing lately. . .but only the pomegranate. . .I guess it's better than Dr. Pepper, which still wins sometimes. (ok, a lot of the time)

Who can resist these cute bottles? Not I. My beloved SuperTarget also sells Izze in cute little cans (a 12 pack!)

Don't worry it's not all tomatoes and grapes. . .there's plenty of this thrown in there. . .




MMM. . .what's for lunch today?

Coincidence? I think not.

My childhood home (actually childhood, teenage, lived there from the day I was born until the day I was married home) is for sale.

AND my birthday is coming up (in a couple of months)!

Anyone want to buy me a great present?

Anyone?

Anyone?

It starts. . .

I knew someday (I was hoping much later), my beautiful daughters would begin to get noticed. So imagine my surprise when my first grader came home with $12 from a second grader.

Me: Where did you get that?

Molly: From "Bob" (obviously not his name)

Me: Why?

Molly: I don't really know.

Me: Well, what did he say?

Molly: He said "here, sit by me on the bus tomorrow."

I politely put the money in an envelope and wrote a note to his mother. . .I wasn't quite sure what to say.

"your kid was trying to buy my daughters attention"

"your son gave her money to sit by him"

"your son gave away his lunch money for a chance to sit by my beautiful daughter"

I decided on "Bob gave Molly this money, she wasn't quite sure why, we're just returning it."

Heaven help us.

How to make a 3 year old really happy. . .

Happy 3rd Birthday baby girl!!

ski bums (on and off the slopes)

We had a fabulous time at Grandpa Camp at Tahoe. My Dad, all of my siblings/spouses were there and all the grandkids except Katrina (we missed you!!). My brother-in-laws family owns a home right on Donner Lake (yes, those "Donners"), and it's gorgeous. We almost had enough room for everyone, Grandpa opted to sleep down the road at the Holiday Inn, a smart choice given the late nights that were had at the cabin. I'm still recovering from the lack of sleep.



We stopped after we flew into Reno to visit our friends that were in Nebraska for law school. We had a quick (late--thanks Shanna!) bite and visited and got some cute pictures!



Our chef, Suzanne. Yummy meatball subs, pizza, spagetti squash, salads, turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, the list goes on and on!!

Grandpa and the gang after the Grandpa Camp Show!!

Choo-choo

Everyone singing the Grandpa camp song to Katrina on the phone.

Madison and grandpa Gary

Molly

Whit

Everyone sing!!! (You have NO excuse, Dad even printed off the words!)

More of the gang singing

Grandpa leads the group!

(the gang on the deck. . .Cameron, holding Justin, Brandon, Hannah, Sarah, Madison, Megan, Molly, Annie, Whitney, Lincoln. . .oldest cousin Katrina stayed home for this trip, baby Quincy was inside)

Gorgeous sunset on Donner Lake

Who's hungry?

My sister Lisa, brother-in-law Sterling (with baby Quincy--who was amazing. . he did this most of the time) Lincoln, Whitney, Annie (some mornings), and I held down the cabin and played games and did puzzles all day while most everyone was gone skiing/snowboarding. We had just as much fun as they did. When everyone was fed well when they got home the night games began. I don't think I made it to bed before 2am most nights.

Grandpa and most of the gang on the slopes.

The snowboardin' crew

Molly and Megan tubing

Is she the cutest thing or what? Annie ready to go tubing

Matt and Molly

The Sullivan clan, Sarah, Scott, Annie and MeganMadison and Sarah tubing

here's Scott, Annie and Hannah tubing

(the "twinners" Molly and Megan)

Madison and Sarah at the slopes

Meanwhile. . .back at the cabin. . .Lincoln and Whitney
Look at that form from Molly!!

Madison

Molly

Sarah and Maddie

Yeah, I could deal with this out my back window. . .the snow covered Donner Lake early on Wednesday morning

The ski bums. . Matt, Maddie, Molly

The halfway point. . .

Well, techinically I'm 21 weeks, but I figure it's about time I posted about all this pregnancy business!!

I'm one of those sicko pregnant people. . .it usually lasts at least 16 weeks, this time it was about 18. It wasn't awful like it was with Molly (read: in bed, ALL day, lots of pukes, addicted to the food tv channel, and could only eat french fries), but it was still bad. I still can't brush my teeth very long. And that's all I have to say about that.

Super tired. I forgot how tired I get. It seems worse this time but those 3 other kiddos may be attributing to it. . .and I don't think it'll be over for about 18 years.

Excited kids. It's fun to have kids that are excited about a new baby. All of them. It about killed them not to tell everyone they know until about 12 weeks. They were about busting to spread the news.

Loving the lub-dub. There's just something about hearing those first little beats. I don't know why but from the start I had anxiety about this baby. Like something was wrong, or I was just trying to set myself up for it incase something happened (probably because one of my best friends miscarried her 4th, my mom miscarried her 4th, and recently we had some close friends have their baby die at 20 weeks.) So, hearing that heartbeat the first time let me exhale.

Drama. Scary. Not fun. But everything was fine.

Little kicks. I swear I could feel Molly move at about 10 weeks, but that is so her personality. This one was about 14 weeks. Matt finally felt the baby kick just this week. I think the baby just wasn't willing to put on a show. . .as soon as someone would put their hand there. . .he'd stop. Whitney loves to put her little hand on my belly and say "you feel that?"

Speaking of "he". . .can you believe it? We seriously would have been thrilled to have another girl (and so would my pocketbook), but we're over the moon about having a little boy in this house. In Matt's family (he's oldest of 7, and only has one brother), this will be the first (and maybe only) boy to carry on the Mar name. Just wait until you see/hear about all the cute photoshoots Matt's sister has in mind. Can you say little superman cape?

The ultrasound. I'm always amazed at the things they can see during an ultrasound these days. Not only "the parts", but I could see his little tooth buds (proud little dental hygienist momma), his little fingers waving around, strong little legs kickin' away, even a little swallow. They even gave him a percentile rank of growth. "He's in the 67th percentile for all babies his age". At ultrasound (almost 19 weeks) he was 8 inches from head to toe and 10 ounces. Our little banana.

Hot and big. I'm not looking forward to a Nebraska summer. REALLY not looking forward to one being pregnant. I'll be hiding out in the basement.

Due dates, weights and names. . .Madison was 2 weeks early (8 hour labor, 7 lbs., 7 oz.), Molly was 5 days late (2 hour labor--yikes, and way too fast, 8 lbs., 6 oz.), Whitney was 1 day early (12 hour labor and "sunny side up"--ouch, 7 lbs. 13 oz.). . .so who knows what this baby will bring, due date is July 17, ultrasound said July 13.

Names so far. . .(and let me remind you, if you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all)

Drake (this one has been on the brain for a while)

Simon (a new thought, but I think I really love it)

Calvin (cute, and I could deal with Cal as a nickname)

Oliver (a possibility)