Quick Cara Update

That girl is hilarious.  She comes up with the funniest things sometimes.  One morning she was playing quietly in her room.  Eric had a band concert the night before and his (my old from SFHS!) garment bag that his suit used to be in was sitting open in the living room.  I walked into her room to see what she was doing, and she had climbed into the bag and partially zipped it up.  I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I'm like Jesus, he died (this one story bible we have has pictures of him wrapped in cloth and being carried to the tomb), and got covered up, and then rose again," then she unzipped it and burst out! :)  Here's the sequence (because of course I made her do it again!).  No child was hurt in this, yes, I zipped her all the way up for pictures!

I'm Risen!!  Just like Jesus!! :)

She's been very entertaining lately, and instead of running from the camera POSES big time anytime I pull it out (which is not very often lately).  Here's her favorite pose:

And another pose, she was with Aunt Bailey at her first shower for baby Jack:

Cara also had her first dentist appointment in early April.  I of course forgot my camera, but my friend Meredith watched Aynslee and Micah so she let me borrow hers.  Here are some pictures:

Talking to her new best friend.  Girl has never met a stranger.

Counting her teeth.  That's about all she'd let them do.  When the dentist came in and tried to use the 'pokey thing,' she completely freaked and he almost scratched her becaues she started thrashing.  Fun times :)

And again, her silly pose pre-going back:

Yesterday was her last day of dance class, I will get those pictures off my camera soon and post them.  Her recital is coming up 6/12, can't wait!! :)

One more, we took this at my parents house this weekend...That's Darrell's hat he wears when he wants to have hair ;)

Baby Girl Update

Still no official name.  Anna is a pretty sure bet I think.  Eric says, "I guess, I have nothing against it...."  :)  Cara and I both refer to her as Anna, so I told him we need to get this set in stone.  At my last appointment, which was 5/21, I was 26 weeks, 1 day pregnant.  I gained 2 pounds that month, for a total net loss of 1 pound.  I truly don't know how I'm still under.  With all that's been going on, I haven't exactly been meal planning and eating completely healthy, but I guess I've just been eating less.  I feel HUGE though, and my doctor said I was measuring 30 weeks.  He didn't seem that concerned.  I asked, "So does this mean I maybe won't go all the way to the end of August??"  Hopeful!  He said, "No, it probably means you'll be a little more miserable."  Great.  Thanks :). 

I did my gestational diabetes test that day, and since I haven't heard back, I'm assuming I've passed.  This pregnancy has just been different.  Most people know I'd like 4 kids.  During my first trimester with this one, if you'd had asked me, I'd had said this is it, we're DONE!  :)  But now I feel much better and as far as I'm concerned (you'll have to ask Eric!), we could still do one more!   Maybe in a few years in a slightly bigger house.  However, I've 'gotten sick' if you know what I mean, this second trimester than ever, the past 10 years of my life, including 2 pregnancies!!  One hospitalization for a random serious stomach bug, and then visited again while mourning Eric's dad.  I also have had another random one or two sick times in there.  As I inch towards my third trimester (2 more days!), I hope that that particular trend stops!

This pregnancy, I could not eat sweets at all in the beginning, which is why though I originally thought it was a girl, I leaned more towards boy.  With Cara I craved sweets.  With Micah I craved SALT and chips.  However, that tide has turned, so give me a big ole bowl of ice cream any night!  With all 3 pregnancies (however it's been worse with Micah and let's just call her "Anna") :), I can't stand chicken.  I can eat an occasional chicken nugget, but try to make me cook chicken, or just look at it too long, and YUCK.  It's getting the same with all meat at this point.  Just watching Eric eat some meat yesterday almost made me get sick.  Which is why I'm not cooking much these days.  Sorry honey! 

I keep telling myself I can do it, but in my head I keep thinking, "How can I possibly go 12 more weeks?"  I feel gigantor and sleeping is already a huge issue (meaning I'm uncomfortable and it doesn't happen that often).  I try to sleep when I can, and when the house is a mess, I just don't freak out like I used to.  That however doesn't pertain to our demolished master bath.  Eric has 12 weeks, or I may just freak out :).

For those that have asked, we don't REALLY need anything for this baby girl.  I have a registry on NurturedFamily.com, my favorite cloth diaper store (because there's a real brick and mortar store here in Houston!).  It's mostly just pink cloth diapers, since I only cloth diapered Cara for 2 months before she potty trained.  And some of my oldest cloth is losing it's elasticity, thus causing leaks around the legs.  I really want a new sling for this baby, so I put 2 on there, I need to go try them out.  I still have my moby wrap, but sometimes a sling is just easier! :)  So there you go, an update on Little Miss.  And soon, now that he's 19 months, I will post Micah's 18 month stats!

Where to start?

I'm sorry blog, that I have abandoned you.  I'm going to list my excuses now.  Tot 2 Tot was great, but insane leading up to it.  We sold more than we expected, but less than we hoped for.  We pray the next sale is even bigger.  We had lots of sellers and LOTS of items, just not enough buyers, so friends, spread the word!! :)  We had like 5 racks of girl clothes and 1 rack of boy clothes, so if you have boy clothes to sale, bring them on (especially bigger sizes).  Also, if you are one of those annoyingly tiny people, bring on your size small and medium maternity wear.  That was the one question we got asked over and over, "do you have any smaller maternity items."  My response was, nope, only us big girls got rid of things this time.  Thanks for asking.  :)  It was crazy enough with 2 pregnant women and one with a 5 month old running it.  Now we're thinking about our September sale, when I'll have a 3-4 week old and Amber will be large and in charge with child due within 3-4 weeks.   Yes, we are certifiably crazy, but we have great helping husbands!!!  Here are a few pictures of our day:

Amanda: here was part of our boutique wall.  That one lattice was full of bows, as were those three bins.  It was awesome.  Thought a lot about you that day :)

But, the day before Tot 2 Tot was when Mike went into the hospital and things got bad.  We only had 6 days with him before he passed away in the hospital.  For those that asked, he was doing really well until he got the last 3 diagnosed brain lesions.  They think the cancer had spread to his spinal fluid, which was why he kept getting lesions on his brain.  That man was a fighter until the very end, refusing pain medication until the last day.  I love to remember the great times we had as a family, because there were many.  Did you know he got to see me in all my glory (ok, I had my panties/bodice on) on my wedding day?  Then I got payback when I lived with them while Eric was finishing up grad school and I had already started at ConocoPhillips.  The alarm was going off and I came downstairs to try to fix it and he came out in his tighty whities :).  We always joked about that.  We could sit and watch Nascar and Astros games forever together.  He and I both liked to cook and was one of the best dads you'd ever meet.  Sometimes he could seem intimidating to outsiders (believe me, I was one for a short while), but once he got to know you, he treated you like one of his own, and he'd do anything for Clara or his kids/grandkids!!  We miss you Mike.  His birthday is on Tuesday of next week (same as George Strait's, see he even was born on my fave singer's birthday!), and we will remember you that day.  How sweet that my friend is having her little girl that day!! :)

What else? Oh yes, a few days after Mike's funeral, I had to get Bailey's baby shower rolling.  Her friends are great, they have some great ideas, can't wait to see it all come together next Sunday!  I got to make the invites via photoshop, and I say they did come out quite cute ;).  I'll post after the shower, we have enough invitees---can't handle any more! :)  So, that got me sewing.  See, Bailey and I had got together when Jack was about 2 weeks old and picked out his fabric for his nursery.  She wanted me to make him curtains and a quilt.  Simple enough.  Except it sat untouch for 6 weeks.  I finally decided, people may want to see what she picked at all these showers, so I got busy.  Plus, if I can finish the pile of things for others on my table, maybe I can start sewing for my girls!! :)  I love that....girls!! :)

Then, little Jack, not to be out done, decided to get an infection the day before his originally scheduled surgery (5/5).  so we had to pray a little harder, but he came back fighting.  He had surgery this past Tuesday and is recovering.  He was up to 5 pounds 7 ounces before the surgery!! :)  The plan now is to get him finally feeding on mommy's hoard of milk, and then go home before his next surgery in 8 weeks.  We pray that's God's plan as well!!

We've been going to Clara's (Eric's mom) house a lot lately.  Trying to help with some decisions and you know me, organize the house (especially since she's given us a time frame of 2 years to get it sale-ready.....oh goodness do we have a job ahead of us!).  She decided she would 'like to someday' move her card making supplies upstairs and make her formal living/dining more formal again with a reading area next to her book shelves.  So last Saturday, we went to help her with a few things and then got busy!!  It looked great, and I got to organize :).  We also got a ton of stuff ready for our garage sale tomorrow, that she's been asking me to help her throw for over a year!  She and the family are doing amazingly well.  She has moments when she desperately misses her husband (of 32 years, they would have celebrated 33 on 5/7), which are completely understandable.  Oh how I wish I could take the hurt away from her.  I am so thankful to God for my husband in my daily life!

Mother's day was a good day.  I actually got a decent shot of me and the kids, and church was great.  The only problem was, after nap we went to run a few errands, and this mommy wanted a vanilla coke from Sonic.  We get there and order, and 'sorry sir, we're out of vanilla flavoring,'  WHAT??? :)  The good thing about Katy is they have 2 sonics :).  And we made it there before happy hour was over (barely!).  Here is a little mother's day flashback for you:

Cara and I, 2007

Mother's day 2008 (Cara wearing a dress I made her!), pregnant with Micah man.  Please disregard the bad hair cut, was growing it out from a February awful cut!

Mother's day 2009 with my 2 babies:

Cara, Mommy, Micah and baby girl, May 2010!

Man, the glasses make me look old!

We also got this great shot of the kids that day

I actually printed those last two and updated some old frames hanging in the hallway that had like 2 month old baby Cara pictures in them :).  We joined the YMCA for the summer, so we've been swimming more, which is why Cara and I are getting tan!  We went to Schlitterbahn on 5/1 with Eric's band and that jumpstarted the whole tan thing.  I love being in the pool in summer! 

The kids are too precious.  Cara is such a little mommy.  The past few weeks, she and Aynslee (only 13 days left to watch her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  yes, I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) have been playing mommy and baby CONSTANTLY!!  It is so cute to watch.  Except for when Cara is the baby and she does this most annoying voice.  I tell her I'm glad she doesn't talk like that in real life.  She's having some big throwing fit issues, which we are trying to deal with.  Mostly telling us no a lot and immediately going for the cry.  We are working on it though.  Micah man (yes, I think that will forever be his name) is SOOOO talkative.  Seriously!!  He's putting 3 and 4 words together.  We did Signing Times with both of them.  Cara loved it, Micah could care less.  She signed EVERYTHING under the sun, and didn't really feel the need to talk until she was almost 20 months.  Micah has been talking our ear off since about 13 months.  This third baby HAS to be quiet....right.....RIGHT!?!?!?  His new favorite words are "big truck,"  "mommy, more milk," "riley dog," and sissy.  It's too cute :).

Baby # 3 has expanded.  Or wait, that's just me.  I felt like 2-3 weeks ago, I was showing, but just slightly.  Now, there is no question that I'm pregnant.  I know that when the vet asks me, if a grown man is willing to ask if I'm having one more, then I KNOW it's not a question of just fat anymore :).  Anyways, here's a picture from 24 weeks, 3 days.   

Now, we just have to acknowledge the fact that there is actually a third baby coming in 14 or so weeks, give or take.   Can I just share my name for her with you all?  I think you'd like that.  That's actually why I got up in the middle of the night, to research name meanings.  But for a few months, to me at least, she's been Anna Marie.  Anna means grace/gracious, and my Mawmaw's middle name was Ann.  Marie is my mom and Bailey's middle name, and it means, well, I just see that it means bitter.  There's got to be a better meaning right?  I used to think it meant Queenly?  On babycenter, it says, "like Marie, maybe you'll like Ann and Grace"  :)  Well, I do!  Cara even occasionally calls the baby Anna.  Now we just have to get Eric on board.  Well, it's not that he's NOT on board, it's just we haven't really talked about it much.  End of school year stuff, I blame!  So, we have 14 weeks to bake a baby and do our master bath!!  (it's been demo-ed since end of January....to be continued) :)

Praying for Jack!

I promise to do a kid update soon.  But today, will you please pray for baby Jack!!  He has surgery at 2 pm for a bowl tear.  He has made it to over 5 pounds recently, we are just so proud of him!! :)  Love you little man!

Michael Lee Newsome

I'm sorry I've been away from the computer most days.  I did want to share, Eric's dad, Mike, lost his 9 month battle with stage 4 lung cancer (that had spread to his adrenal gland, lymph nodes, brain and now spinal fluid) this past Wednesday 4/21.  It has been a sweet time of remembrance we've been sharing with Eric's mom, sister, brother and extended family the past few days.  His services will be at our church, Kingsland Baptist, Monday at 11 am, 4/26 with graveside following at Forest Park Westheimer.  We praise God for his life and for his eternal healing.   He was an amazing husband, father, father-in-law, family man, worker, business owner, friend, brother, son and grandfather!  I had the joy of having him in my life for over 10 years, and I couldn't have been more blessed.  He and I were so much alike in many ways.  He and Clara took me in as one of their own, just as his family took Clara in almost 33 years ago.  I love that man.  He was the one who got me into NASCAR, who taught my husband how to tinker with cars, who helped anytime we called him, who let us keep his tools for years without ever asking for them back (well maybe once or twice when he NEEDED THEM!) :), who raised my husband into the man he has become, who was in the Navy, who was commited entirely to his family, and the list could go on.  Eric and I are putting together a slide show, and though we don't have all the pictures compiled yet, I thought I'd share a few oldies but goodies here.  Eric and his famliy are doing well.  Processing things, grieving, and being surrounded by family, friends and food.  If you would continue to pray peace and comfort over them, especially as next week settles in, the family goes home, and the quiet surrounds them, I would appreciate it!

Mike and his cars

Mike and Clara at their 25th anniversary party (almost 8 years ago)

4 generations of Newsomes.  Meemee, Grandad, Daddy and Cara

Baby Eric and mom and dad

Our family in 2002:

A picture of them all I took on one of our visits home from Baylor:

Baby Mike:

An amazing Grandad

Randomness

I figure if I post a few of these random pictures I've taken each day, I might get caught up.  When Eric is away (UIL week, sectionals, 5th grade instrument selection, etc) this is what we eat for dinner:

Seriously.

Haha, I did cut up an apple and orange to go with it.  At first I thought I'd title my post, "Constipation, it's what's for dinner," but then I thought my mom would tell me it was gross, so I decided against it :). 

Remember about 5 months ago (maybe more) when I planted some random carrot seeds to see if they'd grow at the end of fall, then I forgot about them?  Wait, you don't remember because who posts weird things like that on their blog? Anyways, we were cleaning out our back yard this weekend, and look what we found:

Yeah, not touching (aka eating) those with a 10 foot pole, but it was pretty cool to actually pull something out of our 'garden' that completely didn't yield anything last year :).  And Cara thought it was really cool!

Who puts a crock pot meal in the crock pot at 5 pm, especially when you've already decided you're not 'cooking' dinner and are feeding your kids cheese and crackers.....that's right, ME! 

Eric doesn't get to come home all week for dinner (or lunch), so he needs meals to take to school for lunch and dinner besides PB & J.  So, I made this pulled BBQ chicken last night.  It smelled really good.  So good in fact that after the kids were in bed, before he got home, I wanted some, decided I didn't want to pull the bones off the chicken (that's his job, I have a weird chicken/beef issue), and ate a 50% off cadbury creme egg instead :). 

Cara started swim lessons on Monday.  She goes once a week for 8 weeks.  Don't get me started (and if you were one of the few friends/my husband that I unleashed my anger on that day, SORRY).  But you can't see this picture and stay mad:

For once, it wasn't her being bad, she just didn't get to practice many skills because each time the instructor would take her out, little miss Mia decided she needed to go under water and half drown so they'd have to hurry back.  I had a discussion with the owner lady (I guess that's who she is).  It won't be the same next week, or we're signing up elsewhere.  She apologized.  I'm fine.  Not bitter still.  Still not talking about a 3 year old's swim lesson.  Ok, maybe I am, I just don't spend that kind of money very often and I am going to get what I pay for dangit :).  Done with RANT! 

Another cute picture:

And yes, that's my 3 year old in a 6/6x swimsuit.  She's a giant :).

What do you do when you want to sweep up the carpet of pollen, but you don't want to actually sneeze for the next two days, why you put your kids to work, of course!

Just kidding, they were just playing in the driveway while Eric swept, and wanted to 'help.'  But they're cute!

We are a family that always eats organic and healthy.  Especially when Mommy is pregnant and feels like laying on the couch all day.  I don't ever serve my kids leftover chocolate chip muffins for breakfast.  Nope, NOT ME :)

Ok, if you know me well, you know I, as well as my kids, eat awful (awfully?) when I'm pregnant.  Sorry, I try to make up for it when I actually care and want to cook, but these days, whatever is easiest to grab is what goes in the mouth! 

Ok, I think that's enough randomness for today :)

Go visit Tot2Tot if you haven't lately.  We have thousands of items for sale on Saturday, we are SO excited for our first sale!!!