Pressure

I knew when we had our first son, he would be JLK like his father and grandfather.

Justin's dad is James Larry, and Justin is Justin Lawrence.

James was also my grandfather's so although not my first choice it was an easy compromise. And you are kind of limit on L. I wanted something a little more non traditional and we quickly decided on James Logan.

Fast forward a couple years, and we find out we are having baby number three. Since we decided to not find out the sex we really delayed deciding on names. Final decision was really an after birth thing but we went with William Luke. William is a family name on both sides again and we like the idea of sticking with the L.

Fast forward a couple more years and we find out we are having our third son...never would have dreamed this! Really couldn't think of another L name we liked and we are always confusing Logan and Luke as it is. I pulled out one of my favorites from back with Logan although Justin wasn't a fan...Jackson. I've just always liked it. I guess it just took a few years to grow on him but he liked it now.

So we debated a little about going with JLK again or not. Will Luke feel bad he's the only one without JLK? Will Jackson feel left out without an L....I have said since Elizabeth, naming children is a lot of pressure.

In the end we decided on Jackson Lawrence. Most importantly Elizabeth agreed on it and wasted no time sharing!! So a first for us in sharing the name before the baby! Sure hope Jackson looks like a Jackson!!

My future…

 

Road Trip July 2012–NOLA to OBX!

So Thursday night we loaded up and headed out on a road trip for the record books (at least for us).  17 driving hours – yikes!

Thursday night we made it to North Atlanta by 1 am and then Friday were able to make it to Nags head in time for dinner around 6pm.  The kids did amazingly well for that many hours in the car.  We had a few new movies but were surprised as they got bored with watching DVDs.  We had new coloring books and a few new books.  And Iproducts of course.  At one point, each kid had an iphone or pad with head phones playing games.  The boys all added GA, SC and NC to their list of visited states!  E had been to GA before so she got two new ones! 

Macy and Chris on their special day.  That’s my cousin Colby doing the ceremony.  Macy is our baby cousin out of 15!

The girls…my grandmother, mom and her three sisters.  Jimmy (father of the bride) was hiding out at this point. 

Logan holding this pillow and acting like such a big boy!  It was quite warm and I was worried he would lock his knees and pass out since we told him to stand still, but as usual he did great!

Blowing bubbles for the bride and groom.

 

The ring bearers and flower girl.  Lilly is another cousin!

The wedding was held at the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo NC – Outer Banks.  They had this statue of Queen Elizabeth so I thought it was fitting.

The mornings were spent playing at the beach.  The east coast waves where fun for the young and young at heart!  Nothing like our quiet Gulf of Mexico!  Both E and Logan loved it.  Hopefully we can get a few pics from Papa of the beach fun!

So thankful we were able to make the trip and be apart of this special time with my family.  Trips like that are always too short and you never get to visit with everyone like you would like but it’s still a blast.  I especially love seeing my kids get to play with their cousins.  They don’t get a lot of that so every chance it great!

Mama and the ring bearer.

24 weeks

How far along? 24 weeks

Baby's Size? Ear of corn - approx. 1.5lbs

Weight Gain? 14 lbs to date

Maternity clothes? Oh yes!

Stretch marks? No new ones.

Belly Button in or out? Inny

Sleeping? Sinus are clearing up for now so that's helped my sleeping recently.
Foods I am loving? Nothing specific. Foods I'm hating? As always... nothing!

Movement? Lots of it.  Elizabeth and Justin have both felt him several times now.  Elizabeth gets very excited to feel him - the amazement in her eyes melts my heart.  Like the rest of his siblings this one likes to run away from Daddy.

Best moment this week? Making the baby a blanket with the kids. 

Symptoms? None really. Enjoying the second trimester!
Gender? It's a boy! My words as the dr was scanning, " is that what I think it is". She just started laughing! We asked Elizabeth to read what she had type and she read "I'm a boy". Logan was a little confused and said, " but I wanted a sister".
What I miss ?  Stamina...I just wear out too fast these days.

What I'm looking forward to? The boys feeling the baby.
Emotions: Anxious...time is flying by!
Side Note: Still measuring a few weeks ahead - at least I'm consistent.  Go back in 4 weeks and will do my glucose screening.  Praying we don't run into those issues again this time.

Still swimming

E continues to enjoy swim team. They have them do push ups between laps. It's hilarious to watch young kids attempt push ups.

Last night they did 100 yards. She says we did up and back up and back over and over. You can just see the difference in her swimming. I asked her if she liked the back stroke or free
Style the best and she said diving!

Another First

So it took 6 years but I had to make my first call to poison control yesterday!! 

Luke got into some ants in the back yard so I gave him a teaspoon of benadryl.  He spit the first one out completely - very typical of him.  I give him chewables at every chances.  Luckily he was in the tub washing away the "itches" so it wasn't a big mess.  I told him how if he took the medicine like a big boy it would make his feet feel better.  We gave it a second try and BAM - he took it all with no problem.  I was so proud and told him so.

Fast forward an hr, all three are running around playing between their rooms since it was raining outside.  It got real quite, which all parents know means trouble.  I walked in the kitchen to find him pouring benadryl into a small medicine cup.  I told him that was a big no no.  Poured it down the sink and realized the bottle was empty.  I knew it wasn't a full bottle, i was thinking about a quarter of a bottle.  No big deal I tell myself, they give people large doses of that for real allergic reactions.  I asked him how many cups he had and he said two.  Of course I went and googled it, and if you google anything you can find the worse case scenario.  And as a parent you never want the worse case scenario to happen so I called the dr who immediately said you need to call poison control.

So I called poison control, we went over his age, weight, bottle size, est intake, etc.  She said worse case is about 30 mL, aka, 6 times his normal dose but he should be fine.  May be drowsy, may be irritable, but should be fine.  That's all I need to hear!  He was defiantly out of sorts the rest of the day.  I gave him extra loving - feeling like a terrible mom.

Lessons learned...close the benadryl completely, put it up high, and don't encourage the medicine taking so much!!

Big Boy

So the day came when I finally had to give in and get Luke a real hair cut.  He’s had a couple home trims and one barber trim probably six months ago.  Last weekend while cutting Logan’s hair I attempted to trim Luke up but he wouldn’t sit still and it did more harm than good.

He climbed right in the chair and sat still like a perfect angel!   I couldn’t believe the pile of blonde hair left behind.  It had to be done but it was a sad mild stone for mommy.

I keep taking double takes because it really changed the way he looks.

Happy 4th of July!!

 

Happy 4th…eagerly waiting for friends to come over.

Not sure where the baby will fit but I’m sure Daddy will make room.

Friends.  6 kids 6 and under with two siblings one the way…instant play group!

Luke was the most surprising this year.  Even the loud ones didn’t seem to phase him.

Danger Zone!

WOW!