A Whole New World

Maya has been telling us for awhile that she can't see the board in her classroom very well. I had thought she was making it up because she has passed the vision screenings at school for three years, and none of her teachers have said anything to me about her not being able to see. I finally took her in last week while she was off of school to get her eyes checked. Sure enough, not only can she not see, she has pretty bad eyesight. I thought maybe she would need glasses just to see somethings far away. The doctor says she actually needs to wear them all the time. He says that she will be shocked at all the things she didn't realize she couldn't see because she didn't know any different. We tried to pick out some cute ones. Hopefully she doesn't get teased too much!

National Lampoon's Vacation?

You know your vacation is not going well when your husband says, "Do you feel like we are in a National Lampoon's vacation movie right now?!" But that is just how our little getaway was this last weekend. The kids had school off for a few days, so we thought it would be fun to get a hotel and just play. It started out pretty good. We stayed at a Springhill Suites, which was really nice. When we checked into the room we decided to go swimming. I had the kids use the restroom before we went swimming. Well, the sliding door for the restroom would lock you in if you shut the door. At first, I just thought the kids couldn't get it open, until my husband then locked himself in there. So each time we had to bust people out. You'd think we'd have figured it out after the first few times, but no, i had to make sure for myself and got locked in there too!
Then we went swimming in their indoor "heated" pool! YEAH RIGHT! That water was freezing! So we called the main desk and complained. They took almost a 1/2 hour to fix the problem and by then we were all blue and freezing so we left. When we got up to the room I turned the heat up so we could get warm. Next thing I know the heat completely shuts off and the thermostat is blank. So again, we call the front desk. They send someone up to check on it, he says he knows what's wrong and then leaves. NEVER TO RETURN! Four hours later, it is getting really cold in the room, so we call the front desk and complain again! They tell us they can't fix it so we need to switch rooms. AWESOME! I just love packing and repacking! They did give us a complimentary lunch in their restaurant though.
We rented "How to Train Your Dragon" and watched it in the hotel room.
It was a really good show that everyone liked. Here is Gavin packed and already to go home!
When we had everyone get ready for bed, he packed up his bag, put it on, and said, "Ready! Let's go home!" I guess we just don't travel with him enough or something! I thought it was just camping, but the kid literally wants to sleep in his bed at his house. It took a little coercing to get him to get in bed to sleep at the hotel.
The next morning, we go downstairs for the breakfast. The kids are loud and crazy as usual so I don't really care. Then they all need to go to the restroom. So I ask Maya to take Gavin with her to the potty. Well, Gavin strips completely down to naked in the middle of the breakfast room. Maya grabbed him and rushed off to the bathroom, and I had Kaitlyn follow with his clothes. After breakfast they wanted to go swimming. The pool was shockingly warm!
When they got back, Brian took a shower with Gavin. There was not a non-slick floor in the tub or a bar, and Brian slipped and chipped his tooth on the tub.
So guess who got another visit from us, Oh the front desk! Such an awesome vacation!
So we went for our free lunch, which Brian could no longer eat.
Then the afternoon got a little better because we took the kids to see "The Magic Flute" an opera by Mozart.
They do a special matinee in English on Saturday. It was fun. That is one of my favorite operas. Leaving the opera though, we tried to take an easier way out with less stairs, but Brian tripped over Gavin and fell flat on his face on the concrete of a tunnel. I decided then that maybe we should just leave daddy behind! So we all sat down and waited for daddy to figure out how he was going to get up. Needless to say, I was very happy to be back in my house in my own bed that night!

5K Race

I normally don't race while I am pregnant because I am not allowed to go very fast (nor could I!). The competitive side in me just can't slowly jog in a race. I run 4 times a week so it's not difficult to run 3 miles, I just like to race if I am going to race! I was kind of obligated to run in the 5K on Saturday for Brian's work. It was one of those optional, but not optional charity events! Since he obviously can't run it, I get to volunteer! It wasn't too bad. I probably could have run it faster, but I also probably ran it a little to fast! I finished in 33 minutes, which is slow for me, but I did beat some people. I even passed one of Brian's immediate bosses, which was awesome. I made sure to tell him that he was being beat by a pregnant lady! Next year, I'll beat the big bosses! It was fun. I was exhausted when I was done, but glad I could participate. I think I just look chubby and not so much pregnant though!

So Far, So Good

Well we are halfway there! I can't believe I am already over 20 weeks along. The time is moving far too quickly for me!! We had our ultrasound this morning. All looks really good. The baby is super cute! Of course it is super cute just to see a healthy heart beat. The baby was sucking it's thumb for us too. It was fun to see a healthy perfect baby. I have been freaking out because I haven't felt any movement, and I had before now with my other pregnancies because I am not very big. The tech said that my placenta is right in front so it may be awhile before I feel movement. That was a huge relief! You could see the baby moving like crazy on the screen. This picture of the baby pointing was kind of fun! They do a few 3D pictures of the baby, so it was fun to get to see it's face a little better. Of course the baby had it's hands over it's face most of the time!
So, I am sure you are wondering what the sex is after all that! Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we didn't find out. Yes, you read that right. It was mostly my decision. I have to be honest and say that it wasn't so that we could be surprised in the end. This is my way of emotionally protecting myself a little longer. If I don't find out the sex, then I don't have to name it and buy things for it. Packing up all of Dylan's brand new stuff was one of the hardest parts of our loss. His stuff is still boxed up in my basement and will probably remain there. I can't go through all that emotion right now. The less time I spend stressing, the better for all of us. If the baby has a name and becomes a real part of this family, I will be in constant emergency mode to keep this baby alive. It's probably best for the family if I am not that stressed out quite yet! We had them write down the sex and print a picture for us, and we will open it at a later date.

Circus Time!

It's that time of year again. Time for the circus to come to town! The kids were excited for days before the circus. Even Gavin was talking about the circus everyday. He saw a few commercials for the circus, and was super excited about the animals.
The show was really well done again. We enjoyed ourselves a lot. Gavin was completely captivated by all that was going on. All the kids got glow in the dark necklaces and swords. My niece Savannah kept putting the sword above her head and screaming really loud. She is such a character! My favorite part was the motorcycles in the cage. They had seven people in there riding around in the dark with fluorescent clothing on. It was pretty awesome. Gavin loved the the Elephants of course. They did some really cool tricks with the elephants and dogs. One of the elephants picked up a basket with the dog inside and walked around with it! How do they come up with these things?! At the end of the show they brought out their brand new baby elephant. It was super cute!