34 Weeks Down

Last week, Button was the size of a durian.

Don't know what that is? I didn't either.

This week she is now the size of a butternut squash.

Don't you love the comparison to food?

She feels like she is that big. About every night she does gymnastics giving my insides a work-out.

Besides growing, I think she is sleeping longer periods of time and awake for longer.

I also now know what happens when I forget to pick up my anti-nausea meds. I had flashbacks to the first trimester and ended up in bed most of the day.

Finally, here is what I'll be passing out to people if they tell me that there's no way I'm gonna make it six more weeks or that I look way bigger than 34 weeks:

Casen's Prayer Last Night

Dear God,
Please help the people in the tornado....and take care of our world, God. Please don't send rain tomorrow.
Amen.

(He almost always prays for rain but knew we needed a break. I am thankful today for the big blue sky and sun I can see.)

Prayers

It's been a long couple of days. After the tornadoes on Sunday, I know everybody was hoping that was it for us in Oklahoma. It was even worse yesterday.
I think about the small moment of panic I felt when the sirens were going off, and I didn't have my whole family with me. Casen was still at school, and Josh was leaving work. After Josh picked up Casen and brought him to us at Mom and Dad's house, I breathed a little easier.
Then we watched the tornado monster tear through Moore on television and saw the immediate aftermath. The horrible reports started rolling into the news station. This morning after a night of restless sleep, I see that the victim number had risen.
And there's no words except Pray. And kiss you kids extra today.
Borrowing the words of my friend Pam who borrowed them herself: May they bring all of us some comfort:
"I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of The Lord in the land if the living.

Wait for The Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for The Lord." ~ Psalm 27:13,14

Casen's First Race

Starting the race

At the finish line: C ran most of the mile

He was 5th out of the people who did the 1-mile run/walk. He was proud of  himself!

Liam enjoyed the stroller ride!

C loved his little massage he got after the race.

L Child liked it too.

About a half hour after the race, C tells me again, "I was 5th place! Can you believe it?!?"

Think we have a runner on our hands.

Flower Baby Button

Had to blog one more thing tonight while Button has hiccups...

C sang this song tonight at bedtime (what I could remember):

Flower Baby Button, you're so cute.
You're in Mama's tummy.
Flower Baby Button, you will have flowers in your hair.
You will have headbands and bows on your head.
I love you Flower Baby Button.

Interview With Soon-To-Be-Big-Brothers

We three settle in for a short interview. The boys surround me on the chair while I ask questions and type up their answers...

Me: What color will Button's hair be?
C: Dark blonde. (Like his hair)
L: Light-colored. Like me!

Me: What color will her eyes be?
C: Blue or brown or green.
L: Orange.
C: But not red eyes. Those are for bad guys.

Me: Who will she look like?
C: Like a girl.
L: Like a boy.

Me: Let me clarify. Will she look like you or Daddy or Mama or somebody else?
C: I think she will look like Daddy or you or Liam or me or somebody else.
L: I think she will look like Mama. I want her to have blue eyes.
C: I want her to have blue eyes, too.
L: Maybe pink eyes.

L: Who likes Baby Button?
C: Two boys.

Me: Will she have dimples like C and Daddy?
C: Yeesss!
L: I think so.
C: Does everybody have dimples?
Me: No - Liam and I don't have dimples.
L: I don't have nipples.
Me: No, Dddd-imples. Not Nnn-ipples.
L: Oh okay. I don't have Dddd-imples. You don't have Dddd-imples. Casen and Daddy have
     Dddd-imples.

By this point, we aren't comfy anymore sitting altogether. The boys are on the couch wrestling while I continue the interview....

What will be Button's first word?
C: Mama.
L: Mama.
C: I think Dada.

What will Button like to play?
C: With a baby ball. And with us. (big smile)
L: My basketball.

Now the boys are fighting over a blanket. L Child tries to pin C down in retaliation for him taking the blanket away...

What do you think Button's real name is?
C: But can't you just tell us?
L: Button Hutton Nutton.
C: No, that's just her nickname.
L: Will she be Oklahoma City? Mama?
C: Flower I Love You Baby Button.
L:Heeto Beeto.

I can safely let you know that the boys did not guess the correct name. 

A Lesson In Humility

As I pull a maternity shirt out of my closet...

L Child: Is that going to fit you, Mama? (in an incredulous tone)
Me: Yeah, it stretches.

Thanks L Child for the humility. Appreciate that. Seven.More.Weeks.

Mother's Day 2013

I had a special Mother's Day this year. I think my favorite was the gifts I got to open Sunday morning. Josh took the boys shopping and with little guidance let them pick out whatever they wanted for Mama!

Casen's gifts: A dog card. Junior mints (the kid loves mints). A golden pail to play with sand at the park. And a grown-up (at first they picked cartoon movies so Josh told them to pick a grownup one for me) movie: Zombieland (Josh said I can exchange that one : ) He also got me glowsticks for the boys' next baths. To his credit, I got to read and relax for half an hour because they were playing with the glowsticks in their bath tonight.

Liam's gifts: a superhero grownup movie of course.  Sour worms candy - one of his favorites. a mother's day card from the cat we don't have. a bright spatula (Josh told me to make sure I wash it because L Child used it on the Target floor).

Josh got Baby Button some Thunder onsies and my Secret Sister Jennifer from church got some ultra cute socks for my last gift.

Love these boys.

As part of our tradition, we went to a Bedlam baseball game. Beautiful weather, a little warm but not too bad. The boys did great!

This is what these two did most of the game: yell at the OU batters, cheer for OSU, and tried to catch any foul balls.

This is what this little ham did part of the time.

8 weeks left!

I've entered the stage where Baby is so active and getting big (she's the size of a squash now) that I'm wondering how in the world she has room to get bigger!?! At least twice a day, Button dances in my tummy - shakin' it! She has hiccups a lot now. L Child got to feel her have hiccups last night.

The view in the background is a good representation of a pregnant mom's house: counter completely full of stuff.

I love being able to park close to a store - especially on a day my Sciatic nerve is really acting up (thanks Button!).

 What's a belly post without a dorky picture? I found this shirt at a second-hand baby sale and had to buy it of course. Came in handy for the Bedlam Baseball game I got to attend on Mother's Day.

Early Mother's Day Gift

Josh got me tickets to see Jewel last weekend - an early Mother's Day Gift. I've always loved her music - her first album was one of my first CDs I had. Jewel was great in concert - she took requests, told stories about each song, and was quite funny. So glad I finally got to see her in concert!

We had a fun night out together!

  

End of the Soccer Season

Shark cupcakes and lion cupcakes (courtesy of Immie) to celebrate! 

 Two Sharks: Cason and Casen!

Then Grammy and Mamaw braved the cold weather for games! Here they are with a little lion (Casen is under the blanket out of the wind).

This past weekend, we had the last games - the make-up games! Mamaw, JJ, and Jaci visited. I took the kids for donuts (I promise I'm not a mean aunt. Jaci doesn't like donuts so she ate cereal before we left and visited with us while we ate ours!).

The Lairs came to Liam's game to help me out. Here are the four cute kids.

Liam and the other lions got their medals after their last game. 

I needed help at the game because these three went to the Color Run! Aren't they good looking?!?

 All of us caught the last game of the sharks.

Great end of the soccer season!

The Ho Hey Song

L Child: Are there dogs barking on that song?

Me: No. They are saying, "Hey!" and "Ho!"

L Child: Hmm....(listens for awhile)

Me: Do you like it?

L Child: Yeah. (sings along for awhile) Why are they yelling "Hey!"

Me: I don't know.

L Child: Because they are trying to get that man's attention while he is singing?

Me: Makes sense.

Desk at the End of the School Year

Name Confusion and Singleness & Marriage

Apparently, there's been a little name confusion about Button
Last week, I had the following conversation with C:

C: (seeing a baby) Do you think her name is Button, Mama?

Me: Probably not...um, and you know that Button is just our baby's nickname. It's not her real name.

C: What? What's her real name?

Me: It's a surprise. We will tell you when she is born.

C: What?!? You have to tell me. What's her name?

Me: I promise, you and Liam will be the first ones told. As soon as she is born, Daddy will come get you two and whisper it to you. Then you can announce it to everybody. How does that sound?

C: (rather reluctantly) Well, okay...so what's her name?

Questions about Marriage and Being Single
Sunday, on the way to lunch after church:

Me: We are meeting Katy for lunch. She is driving behind us.

L: Does Katy have a little kid with her? (wondering if he will have someone new to play with during lunch)

Me: No, Katy doesn't have any kids. She isn't married.

L: Why isn't she married?

Me: She's just not - she's young, too. She is in school still.

C: Will she get married?

Me: Maybe one day.

C: Why did you get married Mama?

Me: A lot of reasons but one important one was that I fell in love with your Daddy. I wanted to spend my life with him. I also wanted to be a mom one day and have you guys.

Then the four of us had a conversation in the car about why you get married, when you get married, that it's a choice - some people decide not to get married, etc.
It was a long (and deep) conversation for the car.

30.5 weeks

Whew! It's the home stretch I've been told this week by several people.

10 more weeks.

Which is good...we have a lot to do before Button arrives!

Button is still measuring about a week behind but still very active. Her heartbeat was 146 this week and kicked the nurse again when she measured her heart beat.
There are some days I am worn out, and others (like today) I have a bunch of energy. Riding around to see runners, standing and cheering on the runners, and then walking at a second-hand sale for baby stuff all on the same day was probably not the smartest choice. It took me about 2 days to recover (lots of sleep). I got an energy boost today, hence, I'm awake blogging.

And for comparison's sake...

Casen 27.5 weeks

Button 28 weeks (and it'll be awhile before I'm able to do comparison shots - no more pics of me with the boys until I got close to my due dates)

OKC Marathon

As the boys tell me from time to time, "Mama, you don't run right now. But you will again one day - after Button comes out." Because of that fact, I was a spectator for the race. Josh ran on a relay team - 5 members. Mom, Dad, the boys and Tulle, and I drove around all morning seeing each runner at different points in the race. It was a long day, but very fun.

This was our first stop to see Josh - about 7 AM or so when we saw him run.

We picked Tulle up at the next stop (briefly saw Stephanie) and went to wait for Pam to go by our third stop.

The three kids had the most fun here I think. They were giving high fives and cheering for the runners.

This is what the kids did in-between our stops and waiting for the next runner on the team: Scooby Doo.

We had two more stops along the race to see Taylor and Brian and then met the team and the rest of the spouses and kids at a restaurant. I had a good time, but I think my riding in the car for so long (about 5 hours) and standing for long periods of time is over until after button arrives!

Cowboy Week

 We went to a Mom-Son Cowboy Night at Mom and Dad's church one evening. Our friend (Cason's mom) had invited us. The three boys had a blast! They made the chaps and belts along with getting to do cowboy activities: like acquire mustaches, play the harmonica, and ride and rope.

Then later that week was Land Run Day at Casen's school. The boys dressed up as cowboys for the day's festivities. We had a great time!