Faces

I knew I was missing some.  So here’s another version of ketchup.

Sweaty Face.  Cutest little tennis player ever.  (After 107 degree practice- with sweaty pink cheeks!)

Sleepy Face.  A nice cool morning on the patio- taking care of baby of course!

Silly Face.  Sunday lunch at MooYa.

Shock Face.  I don’t even know if Selena Gomez is really pregnant but this just cracked me up.  The kids are often in character, playing girlfriend/boyfriend.  He is always Romo, she is always Bella.  Coleman tells me that this girl holding the baby (Shelby) is his girlfriend, and I say “Your girlfriend has a baby?!” and Shelby says, “Well, Selena Gomez is pregnant and they’re not married.”

Ketchup

We got a new (small portable) camera that takes video, which we had really been missing.  Last week at Nonnie’s house she put her computer on continuous play of my YouTube station and I totally enjoyed all those videos that we’d taken and taken the time to put on there.  No matter how “big” our kids seem now, this is still a time we will want to look back on and remember their silliness, their voices, their little habits (like Coleman swinging in his underwear every day.)  And of course we’ll need plenty of videos of Molly Monkey’s cuteness.  Now I have to get back into the groove of keeping up! I vow to start anew in October.

This is how Coleman felt at Meet-The-Teacher.

On the last Friday night before school started, Coleman requested a “Boy/Girl” night.  He wanted Mommy to take him bowling, since Shelby had been to a bowling birthday party with Daddy the weekend before.  While daddy and Shelby went ice skating, we had a great time at the bowling alley and Coleman is quite a bowler!

 

A random night at home: Dance party and Disney Cranium.

Happy Friday, Lovies!

Bathroom Renovation

This is the renovation that was in the works for a year!  It was finished at the beginning of the summer and we’ve been enjoying it and the kids have been fighting over who gets to shower in here ever since!

I coulda-shoulda-woulda taken better pictures, but this is what I have and if I don’t post them, it won’t ever get done.

This is my vanity.  Jeff’s looks the same, on the opposite side of the bathroom.  The countertops are new, cut and installed by Jeff and Poppy.  Sink and fixtures picked out by ME, of course!  Cabinet stain “Kona” is new, done by Jeff.  Wall color is new, by Jeff, and I helped a little.

The shower is hard to take pictures of.  We used to have a peach colored marble shallow bathtub over here.  (Which Uncle Doug drove down and helped demolish!) Now it’s a large custom shower.  The wall and seat were built by a contractor, but all the tile work was done by my extremely handy and talented hubby.  The “shower pan” was built by Papa G, our tilemaster!

You know me, I suggested the tile layout.  Diagonal 6x6’s on top, glass stripe, and 12x12 straight on bottom.  The floor is diagonal 2x2” tiles.  I love it!  All these shower corners and angles are caulked with stuff that matches the grout color (pretty cool) which Uncle Luke helped with!

Another awkward picture but it shows the custom built-ins in the wall on the right.

Here is what used to be there:

Jeff took a video of the “before” but it was just so bad.  So narrow that there’s not even a good picture of a vanity or anything.  It was just so cramped!

This below is a bad phone picture.  Shelby likes to take my phone around the house and take pictures of our stuff ever since we had our house on the market.  We added a new narrow floor-to-ceiling shelving unit on the wall where the tiny square shower used to be.  We had no storage in this bathroom except under the sink counters, and this helps SO much!  (I store my shoes in the bottom cabinets!)

The above picture was taken before one of our last steps was done, which was to finish out the top of the half wall, what used to be a whole wall (there on the left,) which cut the bathroom into its old half-moon shape.  It is now trimmed out and looks great, and gives a bit of privacy for the toilet.  Jeff added a new skill to his handiness: using a router to cut fancy finishes on wood.  (I think that’s what it’s called!)  The bathroom is now wide open and a normal rectangular room shape.  Other things done were changing out all fixtures and door hinges, painting doors (white,)  new white trim on the floors (which Jeff cut and installed also), appropriate cement backer board in the shower area so no more butts will be shoved through tile walls, and a new fixture/exhaust fan combo.  Oh and new tile floor throughout the room.  Probably more that I’m forgetting!

As you can see, this is an amazing job that our “village” helped with throughout, from offering a hand, a muscle, an opinion, expertise, and even childcare for us to get it done.  Built with LOVE!

P3 Pregnancy: 26 Weeks

I have declared the start of the 3rd trimester this week.  To be completely 2/3 done with a 40 week pregnancy, I suppose I’d have to wait until 26 weeks and 3 1/3 days, but 26 weeks sounds good to me…plus I am holding out hope that our little Molly will join us just a little early, so that we can have Christmas morning at home.   Not a crazy hope, since she is the 3rd, and Coleman was 4 weeks early.

How big is baby?:  from Babycenter: She now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber) from head to heel.

weight gained so far?: Haven’t weighed again since last time (17 lbs)

sleep?: I am falling asleep well but about half the nights I wake up around 2 or 3:00 and have a very hard time going back to sleep.  Like, have to lay there for an hour or more which is pretty miserable.  I have not been too exhausted during the days lately.  But of course I still love naps (that will never change!)

best moment of the week?: Just having a laid back week has been great.  I worked from home 3 days and will probably start working from home more than that for the rest of the pregnancy.  It is SO nice to open the windows, be able to take bathroom breaks without walking a mile, and just be comfortable in non-work-appropriate clothes!

Miss Anything? I just miss being able to lay comfortable (on my back or tummy!) and being able to easily roll from side to side.  It’s already becoming quite an event when I need to change positions at night.  I am wearing a maternity support belt almost all the time now.  It helps a lot and hurts a lot when I don’t wear it.

Movement:  Lots of movement and this week I think Jeff and the kids all felt and SAW her move in my belly.

food cravings?: Cereal.  (Honey bunches of  oats)  Milkshakes.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy

looking forward to?: Sibling class at the hospital this weekend.

P3: 24 weeks

Well, it’s been a while!

Since I last did a P3 Pregnancy post, we got to look at little Miss Molly again, at 23 weeks!

This is her cute little profile:

Back there behind her mouth is “soft tissue” - a hand- probably pushing on her lips, which look like they’re poking out.  She has the same little chin crease that is from Daddy that both Shelby and Coleman have.  They were able to check all the chambers of her heart, they checked for spina bifida, cleft lip, cleft palate…all looked great.

We got an even better shot of the “parts” to confirm that she is, in fact, a girl.

I went to the doctor again yesterday so now is the perfect time to update!
Just yesterday I told the doctor that I feel like she is SO LOW and all the movement and kicks I feel are way way down there…and today I’m sitting in my office chair and I can feel and see my belly moving up above my belly button!  This is a very active baby.  She moves a LOT and I love it!  This week Coleman felt a little kick and Jeff thinks he felt a nudge.  Jeff isn’t very patient so if she doesn’t kick soon after I place his hand on my belly, he’s out of luck

These pictures are from 23 weeks, 1 day.

Coleman always has that hand up on his baby sister in there.  When I ask for a hug or kiss (and sometimes when I don’t ask) he kisses my belly only.  Molly is a part of our daily conversation, and the kids cannot wait for her to be here.  Shelby has been carrying around her not-American Girl doll (who we happened to name Molly 2 Christmases ago!) and taking care of her.  She wraps her up and puts her to sleep.  She practices holding her correctly.  She takes her into restaurants.  She says it is helping us get ready to take care of the real Molly.  Often S & C are playing house, as Mommy and Daddy taking care of their baby.  They call each other “Hon” and “Honey” and work together to take care of the baby.  I heard Shelby tell Coleman, “Honey come here.  We have so much to get done!”  Wonder where she’s heard that.  She loves to go spend time in Molly’s nursery, just lying on the bed in there and putting her doll in the swing.

how big is baby?: At the 22w5d Sonogram, she was 1 lb 2 oz. (measuring 2 days ahead.)  from Babycenter: Your baby's growing steadily, having gained about 4 ounces since last week. That puts her at just over a pound. Since she's almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), she cuts a pretty lean figure at this point, but her body is filling out proportionally and she'll soon start to plump up.
At the 24 week appt her heartbeat was 159 bpm.

weight gained so far?: 17 lbs.

sleep?: Some nights it’s great, some I have a very hard time falling asleep and toss and turn for a long time.  However, of course, I am always sleeping great when the alarm goes off!

best moment of the week?: More and more kicks.  We got her room all ready.  Still have stuff to hang on the wall but we have all the furniture in, including a crib and a twin bed for visitors or late night snoozes for Mommy or Daddy.  (More pictures will come when it’s all done of course!)

Miss Anything? On Labor day I really wanted to drink a few beers.  It was hot and it was the first time that they really sounded great.  I am not a comfortable pregnant person.  So I miss being comfortable.

Movement:  Yes, she moves a lot.

food cravings?: Peanut butter cookies from the café down at work.  Good thing I only work in the office 2-3 days a week!!

Happy or Moody most of the time: Varies.  Feeling very busy and overwhelmed since school started.  Have had some headaches.

looking forward to?: Cooler weather.

First Day of School 2012- Kindergarten and Second Grade!

Well, the first day of school is here!  It is a big day for the Peck fam since we are sending our “baby boy” Coleman to kindergarten!

We spent the weekend rearranging rooms at our house, and the excitement of that (I think) caused bedtime to be very long and drawn out.  I laid the kids down all ready for bed and said prayers at 8:30 as planned.  At 10:00 they were both still getting up.  I think Coleman fell asleep shortly after 10, and Shelby was still up, claiming that she couldn’t sleep and that her loose tooth hurt.  Finally I laid down with her in her “new” bottom bunk and felt the heavy breathing begin as I rubbed her head just before 11:00!  Even so, both kids woke up well and with smiles before 7:00.

Coleman has not been excited about Kindergarten.  He didn’t want to talk about it and claimed to not want to go.  However, Friday night I had an epiphany after something else he said that made me realize that it’s just not his personality to like to make a big deal out of things, or to want to be the center of attention.  So at that point we decided to stop talking about it and “building it up”…we knew he would be fine once he got there, if we didn’t psych him out beforehand by making too big of a deal out of it!  So, this morning, it was just a normal, “Get dressed, eat breakfast…” except I had to take pictures, of course!  When I called them outside to take pictures, at first he acted like this:

But we let him sit aside and I took some of smiley sissy without bothering him,

and soon enough he ran up on his own ready to smile!  I was so relieved.

Silly man was shaking off his first day jitters just fine…

Off we go!

(Just kidding.  They did not ride in the back of the truck to school.)

We parked at the park to walk to the school together

I had planned to take Shelby to her class first so Coleman could “see” her being dropped off, but he wanted to go first. 

We were the first ones in there with one other boy and his parents.  I think we were supposed to go to the gym instead, because almost 10 minutes later Mrs. ONeal returned to the room with all the other kids and parents.  Oops.  But Coleman and the new little buddy Elijah got to meet each other before everyone else came so maybe we have a friendship budding!  They were sitting together on the carpet as we said goodbye.

Sister, of course, walked right into her class and they were already starting with a worksheet, so she’s in great hands too!  (Already in second grade, I felt too intrusive running in there with my camera, so here’s the picture we got of her!)

I have a feeling that this is going to be a fantastic school year.  We have a couple of wonderful teachers and great kids. 

August

August is halfway over and it has FLOWN by!

Shelby went to play with a friend one day and her parents gave Jeff their SWEET season tickets to a Rangers game for the next day.
Cole daddy went with us, along with uncle TyTy.  Being so close, Coleman was very into the game and watched the whole thing.  The only thing he asked for was cotton candy.   He was very serious throughout the game and I think I annoyed the crap out of him by trying to talk to him.  Next time, I’m taking a girlfriend to talk to!!

This was our view, behind the Rangers dugout.  We were in the shade from the start.  Nice!

Since I’ve been working from home, the kids and I have been able to do some fun things in the afternoons.  We FINALLY went to see Brave and Aunt Anna joined us.  We had the whole theater to ourselves besides 2 other women, so Buddy chose to sit on the back row by himself.

Another evening, we went to the dollar theater to see Chimpanzee movie with Daddy! On one of my last Fridays off, we went to NRH2O with Kelly, Chris, Reagan & Rylee.  We had a blast!  (no pictures.)

The kids also went to gymnastics camp for a few days at the end of July.  It was fun, but wasn’t really gymnastics.  They alternated between swinging into the foam pit, playing games on the floor, climbing on the big play gym they had, and jumping on the trampoline.

Shelby went to art class again.  This was her masterpiece collage.  Her teacher was very impressed with her, saying that she required no help at all.

We got all registered for school last week!  We can’t wait to meet our teachers next Thursday night.  Praying for the perfect fit for Shelbs and especially Coleman!

On Friday, Tia and Tio Millie and Luke arrived from Spain!  Luke’s work needed him here for a week so we get to reap the benefits of seeing them!  On Friday night we all met up and dined at Boomer Jack’s while watching the Rangers game.  That place is loud and perfect for kids.

We snapped a picture of the seesters

and this one of the guys is funny.  They all have toothpicks and are watching the game.  And see Sissy there on the edge.  She’s a bright spot

Sunday Jeff smoked a bird for us to all feast on.

Last week, we got a new couch, and yesterday the storage ottoman arrived!  We are ready to watch some movies on this baby!

This week, we went to visit baby sister’s future BFF Emery. 

Thanks to Christal for letting us have a trial run!  I don’t think our kids have ever been around a newborn (Emery is 7 weeks and almost 10 lbs now) so it was nice for them to see how little she is, and how at first, they just lay and sleep and cry   They loved holding her and came back several times for more turns.  Coleman took her socks off every time because he liked her wittle feet and toes!

And finally, baby sister’s crib bedding arrived from “the box store” aka the ups man aka the internet.  We LOVE IT and have to again thank Nonnie and Poppy for baby girl’s early Christmas present!!  This is the quilt.  It is very nice, heavy fabrics with different textures.  I can’t wait to deck out her room and make it ready for her!!

Coming up for the Peck fam in the coming weeks and months:
A HUGE to-do list of things to get our house and rooms ready for our new arrival.
Meet-the-teacher night next week.
School starts the following week.
Shelby is playing soccer with the team that her school friends are on (different team from last year.)
Shelby is enrolled in tennis camp for the fall.
Coleman will play basketball this winter, and wants to take karate in the meantime.  We are waiting for Spring to start another T-ball league.