Big news, Birthdays and Lessons

Yeah yeah yeah. I know. I promised to write smaller posts more frequently and now I've gone and waited almost a whole month to write anything. You all know what that means...it's monster post time!! ;) Did you actually think I'd be able to resist the urge to be lazy? Pssh! And I thought you knew me by now. ;)

First of all, I have a REALLY good excuse for my recent laziness... Right now it's about the length of a tube of chap-stick!

Uh oh...how did this happen?? ;)

That's right everybody...I'm 11 weeks pregnant with baby #3! I'm due February 23rd, 2009. If you want to see how big our little parasite is or read about what he/she is doing to my poor body, you can read more by clicking here! So far I've gained 3 lbs - which is far better than the 11 lbs I had gained each time with Kristin and Katie by the 11th week!! I'm trying to keep myself under control this time, so it isn't as difficult to lose weight afterwards! Especially since I worked so hard to lost weight after Katie! I don't want all of my efforts to have been for nothing!!

I was feeling pretty bad from around July 3rd until July 21st. I am so thankful that I've been feeling better! I woke up on July 21st and was feeling really good, so I ran around as fast as I could cleaning up the house, taking care of the horrendous heap of laundry and the giant load of dirty dishes that had been building up (I didn't know how long I'd be feeling good, so I thought I'd take advantage of it). Then I thought to myself, "I wonder if someone is praying for me." Surprisingly enough, I checked my email later and read an email from my Mommy-in-law saying that she had prayed that I'd feel well that day! I was very appreciative for the prayers because I was starting to turn into a whiner baby - complaining about feeling yucky and hating that I didn't know how long it would last. I felt yucky with Katie for 3 months and I was not looking forward to feeling sick for that long again! Thankfully I haven't been sick since and that makes me VERY VERY happy!!! Thank you Jesus!! :)

So anyways - we won't find out whether we're having a boy or girl for another 7 weeks, so check back later for the ultrasound results! ;)

In older news, I was taking Kristin to swim lessons on base back in June. A huge waste of time if you ask me!! 8+ kids per instructor! Of course, she still enjoyed it (oblivious to the fact that she wasn't getting enough one on one instruction). ;) After a few days of that, I decided to take her off base to for swim lessons to make it more worth our time and money. She loves it! The only thing she loves more (WAY more) is her new gymnastics class!

First day of swim lessons on base


Floating with her face in the water


Waiting to jump off the low dive


Jumping off the low dive

Aw...she's so cute!


More swimming with her not-so-great instructor


Swimming classes off base at her gymnastics complex...much better...


Jumping into the water


Katie watching Kristin during her swimming lesson


We decided to take Kristin out of ballet and put her in gymnastics. Mostly because she was showing a huge interest in all the preliminary trials we've been watching online with gymnastics for the upcoming Olympics. She enjoyed ballet, but she seems much more interested in gymnastics. Who wouldn't?! I'd love to have been able to do gymnastics when I was little and Jason wishes he had too! She started out in the 4 and under group, but after only 2 classes, both of her instructors recommended that she move up to the 5+ group in the REAL gym next door! They said she was already strong for her age and she pays attention really well. Kristin was so excited to be going to the big girls'/boys' gym! She's doing really well and she loves it! It seems like a great program! They have these little munchkins stretching, running, doing push ups and crunches - it's crazy! I think Jason is secretly thinking that Kristin will be his ticket to the next Olympics (when Kristin is old enough that is). His other goal is to teach her to get really good at soccer, so she can get a soccer scholarship at his Alma Mater. He seems content to live his life vicariously through our little blonde girl. As long as she enjoys what she's doing, I won't say anything about it. ;) I have to take videos at her classes instead of pictures because the glare from the glass window messes up all my shots, so for now - videos are the only things I can post!

Her 2nd class (and last class) in the 4 year old program


First day of class at the REAL gym! She was very excited about her new leotard that she picked out. :)


Practicing her splits


Stretching (does this look disturbing to anyone but me?)


Practicing her bridge


Practicing her headstands


So far, she's going to gymnastics two times a week and swimming once a week. As soon as she can swim well enough (so she doesn't drown if she were to ever fall into water), we're going to stop the swim lessons and add a third day of gymnastics. She's looking forward to 3 days a week, so she has some motivation to figure out this whole swimming thing. :)

Jason and I have begun our 30s. Eek! Jason's 30th birthday wasn't until July 10th, but since Mike and Beth were still here visiting, I decided to have a surprise party for Jason on the 6th (so we could have more people to celebrate with us). Jason was on call at the hospital the night before, so after he came home the next morning and fell into bed, I started decorating his cake and Mike and Beth started on the decorations. He finally woke up a couple hours later and when he came out he was really surprised...in a confused sort of way. Mostly because he didn't understand why we were having a birthday party for him when my birthday is 2 days before his. What could I have done anyways? Thrown a birthday party for myself first? Silly boy. That's why it's called a surprise. ;)

Cake decorating is no easy task when you're feeling queasy... Ugh.


Jason in a confused state after waking up to a surprise birthday when mine is 2 days before his...


Blowing out the candles...I should have put 30 individual candles on there instead...just to rub it in... ;)


Fire Starter from Michael (Jason actually wanted one of these - for when we start our camping adventures in the near future)


Heavy duty flashlight from Michael (it has actually come in handy a couple times now) ;)


My present to Jason - his much anticipated iMac computer...sheesh - he's high maintenance! ;)


Why does Jason make these faces when our family photos are so few??! ;)


Pretty flowers that Mommy Capra had delivered for my birthday.


Edible arrangement that Mommy Capra had delivered for Jason's birthday

By the time my birthday rolled around on the 8th, I was sick of cake (among other things) and didn't want anything to do with it! I've had a ton of food aversions with this new baby! Jason wanted to make me a cake, but I couldn't allow it! I didn't want to look at it or smell it!!! Blah! Of course, it doesn't sound so gross anymore - but just the mention of it was enough to make me queasy at the time, so I didn't have a cake for my birthday. :( Jason did take me out for my birthday dinner though...to one of my favorite restaurants! Red Lobster! Mmmm... Now that sounded good to me (at the time anyways)! The next day however - it sounded repulsive! Pregnancy is so weird!! My Mom, Dad and Grandma Jackson sent Jason and I money for our birthdays and we used it to buy our tickets for Disneyland!! Thank you!! :)

I finally decided on a home school program for Kristin! I was so excited to finally put in my order for her Kindergarten curriculum! I received my box in the mail 3 weeks ago and it includes everything I'll need for the whole school year! I decided to go with Calvert. It isn't a Christian-based program like I had originally planned on looking for, but Jason and I can include stuff about Jesus on a day to day basis without a curriculum telling us how to do it! We do it already anyways, so it won't be anything new! :) We're going to start August 18th!! Kristin is so excited! I hope it's as fun as we're thinking it'll be!!

Mark your calendars everyone! Jason and I went out on our first date (in I don't know how long) on July 23rd! It was a momentous occasion! We had our sweet neighbor girl come over and watch the girls for 3 1/2 hours while we went to the Palladium and watched the new Batman movie - The Dark Knight - on IMAX! It was great! Jason drove us in his little Yaris (I call it the egg car and he calls it the date car). ;) It was weird to be out on our own, nerve-racking to leave the kids and fun all at the same time! I'm sure it won't be as scary next time to leave the girls - especially since they loved having the neighbor girl over. We're going to try and go out once every couple weeks. We'd do it once a week, but I don't think we could afford that much in babysitting fees!! ;)

I spent the next couple days running around getting things ready for our trip to California. We were so excited to have found out (rather recently) that Jason was actually going to get the week off from work to go to his brother James' wedding! Since we were planning on being in California, we thought, why not go to Disneyland too?! I love Disneyland!!! I ran around like a crazy person getting everything packed, confirming reservations for hotels, running errands and buying last minute things - like dresses for the girls and I among other things.

Taking a break from dress shopping to play in a fountain at the mall


We left Saturday morning on July 26th after Jason got home from being on call the night before. We were gone for a whole week and we just got back yesterday afternoon. It was SO much fun!!!! I'll try to get started on that story tonight or tomorrow! I promise! Hmm...I probably shouldn't make any promises. We all know what happens when I do that...nothing!! ;)