My Travelin' Man

Pictures as promised. Michael and I finally have time to sit down and blog this together. I wanted to share these photos but I wanted to have all the right captions for them. Enjoy!!!

Michael's first stop was Uruguay! (how cool is that?!)

Michael was in the capital city of Montevideo (southern tip):

Here is just a really cool looking building, not a clue what it is:

This is where President Bush was staying, the Radisson:

And Mel, this is for you especially, isn't this disgusting?! Some maintainers put this on Michael's plane as a joke to the crew:

The lovely Andes Mountains:

Michael and the guys had to stop in Panama for gas and their plane broke there. Some rough times ahead as you will see.

This is the jungle, Michael said it looked straight out of Predator:

This is downtown Panama City:

This is the Bridge of the Americas, pretty cool, huh?

And what everyone wants to see, a couple of photos of the Panama Canal:

Here's a pic of Michael's rough hotel stay:

And this photo was specifically taken for me, Michael thought I would appreciate the differences between his time spent gone and my time spent at home. What a thoughtful guy I married:

Course I give him trouble and then he takes a picture of Steven Tyler for me :) Apparently the Hard Rock there in Panama City sports LOTS of Aerosmith stuff, can't go wrong with that! (just look at that mouth :) :) :)

From his travels Michael brought home a wooden cross and Matai cup from Uruguay and a Toucan from Panama. We are racking up quite the cultural collection!

Little League Debut

Luke and Kaden played in their first t-ball game last night! Ohmigoodness, we had the best time watching them! I half expected to see highlights on ESPN this morning, it was so exciting! The Iron Dawgs are 1-0, with the score of 15-12. For pictures and stats please visit the boys team website: http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=id
Not that you won't get enough pictures from me...

The games are 2 innings long with each team batting around in an inning. Luke hit 5th last night and Kaden brought up the rear. Kaden is by far the very youngest on this team, but you saw the photos, he has got some talent :) Both boys loved playing in the game. Luke says the 'pitcher's helmet' he has to wear itches his head, but he likes getting most of the ground balls. Kaden spent one inning in the dugout, one in the outfield. He was lying down and rolling over out there, so funny to watch. I promise that I won't put up this many pictures after every game, I just couldn't resist, I had so many good ones to post.

Mom, Dad, Luke, and Kaden had a blast at the game. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for Mr. Gabriel. He did not nap yesterday and he wanted to run around the park, climb the bleachers and stay away from Mom and Dad, everything was a tragedy and he spent most of the game in tears. His picture sums him up completely!!!!!!

Poor sweet thing, hope next game is better for you! We have games again on Saturday and Sunday. How fun!

Thanks for calling last night Jackie. We are so excited for your visit too. Come on April 7th, we are more then ready!! :)

Goin' home in pink

On Saturday morning we went to Sears to get much needed new pictures of the boys! They did great and the pics are too cute, I will post them if I can figure out how. While we were there we found Josie's going home outfit. It's adorable, thought I would share it: (and yes Grandmom, she will have a little coat on to actually come home in, she won't be sleeveless--I know that's what you are thinking! :)It's got everything, pink, flowers, bows, and a purple Eeyore----TOO CUTE!!! And Heidi sent Josie some perfect purple outfits from Germany, thanks again, we LOVE them SO much!!!

Well the Josie countdown is officially on now seeing that all of the family that is coming for the birth will be here next week sometime :) I'm so excited, I can hardly wait. I hope the time flies by, I've really hit the hardest part of pregnancy for me. I have so much trouble sleeping at night even though I am exhausted. I have been sleeping on the couch because it only hurts my back mildly instead of insanely like my bed does. And the worst part now is they're back, I've got them, yep, Hobbit feet and they HURT! My feet and ankles are so swollen!!! Michael likes to laugh at them, he and my Mom always say I have fat feet but this is ridiculous!!!

On a much happier note, Luke and Kaden have their first t-ball game tomorrow night. We are excited. It's supposed to rain but we will keep our fingers crossed. Let's go Dawgs!!!!

Pump It Up

Last night we went to a boy from Luke and Kaden's t-ball teams birthday party. It was at a place called Pump It Up, an inflatable party place. the boys had the best time, all 4 of them! I don't know which of my boys is the biggest kid, it took Michael all of 35 seconds to decide he was going to play too.

Daddy and his boys in the birthday seat:

Look Uncle Thad, Luke knocked that kid out with a left hook! (We did watch Rocky Balboa yesterday before going to the party...)

Baby Josie update. I had another OB appointment on Friday, all looks good and let's just say that things are moving along. We are going to schedule an induction for Monday April 9th if Josie doesn't make her appearance by then. I am starting to contract a lot but they are still more uncomfy then actually painful. I'll go again this Thursday the 29th and I'll let you know how it goes.

Prayer reminder---Michael flies on Thursday so let's all pray that Josie doesn't decide that is a good day to arrive! Thanks.

The end is coming!!

Here's what I have been thinking about: baby countdown is now at a mere 22 days until my due date, so 18 until day of induction. And I have conflicting emotions on the subject. The end of a pregnancy is so hard for me. I am SO anxious to see and hold the baby, yet I am sad not to be pregnant anymore. I guess this is hitting a little harder this time because Michael and I decided on 4 kiddos and Ms. Josie makes us complete. I won't be pregnant anymore and I love being pregnant, I even enjoy the puking part (as much as you can anyways). Now it's true I can live without the back pain, that part is pretty terrible, but babies are worth the discomfort. The whole creation and development of a baby is a miracle to me. I am more then blessed to have had the opportunity to do this 4 times. I also have to admit I am a little nervous about being in labor again, it hurts a lot and my doc and I aren't so far seeing eye-to-eye on the whole epidural thing. Hopefully that will be remedied before I am actually IN labor. I have another OB appointment tomorrow, maybe we will broach the subject.

I am trying to keep my nerves at bay but it's hard. Michael needs to requalify on his jet so he is scheduled to fly once a week for the next 3 weeks, see my problem?? I don't want him flying around the US somewhere while I am in labor. As it is now he is scheduled to fly on March 28th, the 6th and 13th of April. My due date is the 13th and we are supposed to induce on the 9th, so to me all these dates are WAY TOO close for comfort. So, any prayers for my peace and Air Force help would be much appreciated.

In other news, t-ball practice again tonight, it's so fun to watch the boys play. Here is a photo of them in their uniforms. I will definitely put more pics up but for now this is all I have:

Yeah, I don't know what the tongue thing is, maybe from Uncle Thad?? Pretty cute though.

All For Josie

The time is almost upon us!!! I am 36 1/2 weeks now, just about 3 weeks until induction!! How very exciting.

So as promised I have some pictures to share of my surprise pink shower thrown by college friend Becky. We had such a fun time, the family was there because of Kaden's 4th b-day party, Becky, her mother and niece, and another good friend of mine from college, Niki, showed up with presents, balloons, and some really good food, those cookies were amazing!!!!

Most of the pictures taken were on Mom's camera so these are the only ones I have, they'll have to do. Here is the lay of the land:

Here's a pic of big ol' me with my first doll of any sort from my Aunt Deb!!! How exciting!Thank you everyone for the gorgeous gifts Josie received. That girl will be SO well dressed. It is so exciting knowing I have a little girl coming, I can't even tell you. You guys know I LOVE my boys more then anything, but I am looking forward to having a daughter so much. I think it's because my Mom and I have the most amazing relationship. We are so close, we share in everything, she is my best friend, and I only pray that Josie and I can have the same!!

Here are 2 tubs full of 0-3 month and 3-6 month clothes that we have been blessed with. Some is from my shower, some are my niece's clothes (thank you Aurora) and some are from a friend of mine Sandy who works with my Mom. Thank you all! I think Josie will have to wear 3 outfits a day so she can wear everything at least once!!!!

Josie's new bassinet, pretty in pink:

And from your Daddy Josie, here is a Wendy outfit. We went to the Disney Store on Saturday and because of the re-release of Peter Pan there were lots of baby clothes. Michael fell in love with this Wendy dress, I talked him into getting the 12 month one so that Josie could wear it more often. Isn't it adorable? Plus there is a knit cap that Becky made for Josie, thanks so much for that Becks, it's too fun!

And Wendy's dress wouldn't be complete without a bow in back!!

Thanks to everyone for the pink, the flowers, the bows, the ruffles, all the fun things that have been missing from my life! And Josie know that you are SO loved already!!!!