Mostly Wordless Wednesday: Brother and Sister

Getting ready for Church

They actually had on matching colors!

Playing in the sprinkler

At Kanpai enjoying Sierra's Birthday!

Playing around at home

Too Silly

10 Things I Learned This Week

1. Holidays with my husband and children never get old. We had so much fun over the the July 4th holiday weekend. We enjoyed time in the pool, cooking out with the family, a yummy birthday dinner with my dad, Church water slide fun, and fireworks at Church! I'm so thankful for every moment we get to spend together.
2. I forgot just how little sleep you get when you are pregnant. My 3am wake-up calls are consistent. I think I've been waking up so frequently at 3am it's going to be hard to break the cycle.
3. Afternoon naps with your babies never get old. It doesn't matter if they're 9 years old! Mallory, Tyler, and I did sneak a couple of afternoon naps after long days in the pool.
4. Heartburn is my new friend. Everyone is telling the old wives' tale about heartburn meaning lots of hair. Right now heartburn equals a big pain! I think I should own stock in Tums and the Mayfield dairy, as I'm sure I keep them both in business.
5. Mallory isn't scared of anything (I'm sure I've mentioned that before). She's a little daredevil. In the pool she's constantly cutting flips, doing hand stands, diving off the diving board. I don't know where she gets all her energy. All of the stunting in the pool probably explains her need for afternoon naps! I'm thankful she has a love of water.
6. Tyler did all of the water slides at the Church 4th of July celebration. I left Richard and the kids at Church for a little bit to make a grocery store run, and I returned to two soaking wet kiddos and a worn out Richard! Tyler actually went down the big 26ft. water slide and Mallory was going down a huge "wave rider" on an inflatable surfboard. I remember the days when running under the hose pipe and sprinklers were a treat. Now you can buy 26ft. water slides to inflate at home! Did we miss out or what?
7. The fireworks at Church were great. Mallory enjoyed hanging out with all her buddies and Tyler enjoyed playing on the firetruck with Malachi and Carsten. Tyler was so proud of his sparkler. We all also enjoyed seeing Candy and baby Eli. Eli is 6 weeks old now! He was born 5 weeks early. So, he's still super tiny. However, he didn't budge one bit throughout the fireworks. Candy just doesn't know how lucky she is! The evening was a blast!
8. I have to have my 2nd glucose tolerance test very soon. Please pray I pass the one hour, because I failed it with Tyler and had to take the 3 hour test! Any woman who has ever had to do the 3 hour test knows just how miserable that can be. I'm crossing my fingers my blood sugar is less than 150. Anything over that is considered failing and requires the 3 hour!
9. Family day is coming up at the armory. It will be the first family day with Richard's new unit. He loves being with all the new guys and has a lot of new possibilities opening up there. The biggest thing he's been working on is the "Honor Guard". It will be August before he finishes up all of the required training, but he seems to be enjoying all of the work.
10. There are a lot of prayer requests out there for friends and family. However, this week has been particularly hard. My cousin became very ill this week. They found ulcers in her colon late last week. She was hospitalized, and early this week the ulcers ruptured. When they ruptured, it caused a major bleed and her colon burst. She was rushed to surgery 2 times and ended up having her colon completely removed. Since then things have been up and down. She's still on life support and now has pneumonia. Please pray for her recovery!

Update

I promise I have new pictures to post this week, and I won't get too far behind this time. Richard was off last week. Unfortunately, it just didn't work out for a vacation. However, the kids and I are going with my sister in July for a few days. I'm excited about going somewhere with the sis (considering it has been a couple of years since we've been anywhere together). Plus, this little trip will be the last vacation with just two children!
It doesn't seem like baby Mason will be here so quickly. Depending on blood pressures, the specialist says we need to prepare for his arrival anytime from August 28th and after. I will be 34 weeks at this point and the doctor said he would be more than thrilled with this date considering my history. The good thing is my blood pressures have been in the acceptable ranges for now. They've been a little higher in the afternoons, but not enough to get stressed about. Of course my personal goal is the 36 week mark. So, keep praying we make it to that point.
My baby shower is going to be a little early on July 25th. I'll be right at 30 weeks. There were several reasons for choosing the 25th, but mainly we just don't know what restrictions the doctor will put on my as I progress. In 2 weeks I start weekly visits, Non-Stress Tests, lab work, and more frequent fetal growth scans. At the beginning of August I start going to the doctor 2 times a week for Non-Stress tests and protein checks. So far things are looking great, and I'm trying to do everything I can to keep things that way. I have a great hubby and two great children who make the process enjoyable. It's so awesome to see Mallory and Tyler get excited about their baby brother.
As for Mallory and Tyler, they're enjoying the summer. This is Tyler's last summer before starting "big boy school". He's been enjoying being outside and swimming. He's really turning into a fish. He wants to copy things Mallory does in the pool. He'll go underwater like Mallory and try jumping in the pool. He's not quite there on the jumping in part, but he's trying. Mallory on the other hand isn't afraid to try anything in the water. She doesn't stop once she hits the water. I'm thankful they both have a love of the water. It's a great heat relief for the pregnant mommy! Mason and I just love the water!
A few weeks ago the kids did go to Carowinds with Richard, and of course he left the camera in the car at church. Ha! Ha! Maybe he's the one with pregnant brain! Mallory is now tall enough to ride any ride she would like and Tyler rode anything they would let him on. They also enjoyed the water park portion of Carowinds for quite some time. They must have had a blast, because they were two hours late coming home and still talk about the trip.
This week is my 29th birthday! I can stop celebrating after this year, right? Of course my birthday is always fun, because it falls near the 4th. So, we have some fun plans for the weekend. Hopefully, those plans include a lot of time by the pool. It's just about the only way I can tolerate the eat. I also hope they include some yummy Midway BBQ! We had some this past weekend, but hey you can never get enough Midway! It's worth the drive to Buffalo. Plus I don't get to Union to see my family often enough. My aunt has been kind of lonely here lately, and I'm making a special effort to see her more often. Maybe a trip to see my aunt will be a good excuse for Midway! YUMMY!
I have pictures to post of Red, White, and Boom fireworks, the Canaan Road 4th Celebration, by birthday lunch with part of the family, and lots more. I'll get around to them sometime. You would think it would be easy to catch up on them, because I don't sleep well at night. However, I'm exhausted when I'm awake at night, but just can't get comfy enough to sleep. It goes along with the territory. I'll do anything to get our little man here safely and healthy. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer! Keep praying for our little man, and continue to pray for my friend Ashlee and her brother Jason (who was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this summer). They'll be facing a series of tests to find out if Ashlee is a match for a bone marrow transplant. I know God is going to heal Jason and provide him with a full and speedy recovery!

Richard Did It...NOT ME!!!

I really don't know what got into Richard last night. He's been dead set on not telling the baby's name until he was born. It really didn't matter to me either way, but I would like to start relating to him by his name. I don't want him born being called, "Peanut" forever. I've done super good at keeping this a secret. Everybody, just knew I would be the one to cave and tell the name. Ha! Ha! This time my husband couldn't keep the secret any longer. So, he told the name to everyone last night! I was kind of shocked that he randomly told. Actually, Mallory thought that he was going to tell everyone else first and kind of got upset. Then when she talked to us about it, she realized she actually knew the name all along and hadn't connected the dots. So, Mallory shouted to everyone, "The baby's name is going to be MASON LUKE!"
Of course the first question everyone wanted to know was how we got the name. I swore up and down I was going to be the one to name this baby, since Richard and Mallory named Tyler. I was wrong. Mason is actually the first name Mallory picked out, and it was actually the first name Richard and I agreed on. Luke is the first name Tyler picked out, and we had considered Lucas or Luke after Richard's best friend Ed Lucas. Tyler just kept leaning more towards Luke, and it seemed to fit better. Plus Ed said Luke was a "cool name". In the end the name just fit. We all three love the name!
Don't get me wrong Tyler came up with some other very interesting names. We could be welcoming a little Rico, Yoda, or Luke Skywalker Darth Vader. On the other hand, Mallory came up with lots of very cute names. So, now we ask you to continue to pray for our little man, Mason Luke Miller!

10 Things I Learned This Week

1. Sleeping is proving to be more and more difficult the further I get into pregnancy. That's probably why I'm writing this at 1:48 a.m. I guess you forget about all the sleepless nights once you lay your eyes on your sweet baby. This must be the case, because I can't remember being up so many nights while pregnant with Mallory and Tyler (although I'm sure I was)!
2. I'm really excited about the Food Lion BOGO sale. Hello, they have ALL BOGO!!! Plus I have coupons. Is it sad when you get excited about laundry detergent.
3. My husband was very kind and shared his lovely sore throat from last week with me. So, the past couple of days I've been battling a terrible sore throat.
4. I'm very excited to go to the pool in the morning with the kids. I look like a ghost! Plus this heat is absolutely driving me insane. It will be nice to be in the water!
5. Did I mention I would like for it to snow about two feet. I literally asked for a big floor fan for my birthday. I know my family thinks I'm bananas, but I can't stand the heat. Most nights I end up on the sofa with the ceiling fan on high. I just can't stay cool enough.
6. On that note, it's a good thing Mallory and Tyler are winter babies. I don't know how these women have multiple summer babies. I walk outside and I feel like I can't breathe. My hands and feet swell almost immediately. It's hard to believe I still have July and August to suffer through! Maybe I need two of those fans!
7. Mallory is officially getting really tall! Ok, so really tall for me is not saying a lot considering I stand a whopping 5' 2". However, my child is almost as tall as me. She's going to be outgrowing her bicycle very soon, and even though I hate to admit it I'm almost looking eye to eye with my 9 year old!
8. I'm so looking forward to spending Friday with the whole family and the July 4th celebration! I'm in charge of the food, but you know us pregnant women! We can never decide exactly what we want to eat.
9. We're also celebrating my birthday a little early. On Sunday, we're going to my mom's house to grill out. I must admit my biggest craving this pregnancy has been CHILI! So, I'm praying my mom is going to be super nice to me and have hamburgers and hot dogs. I'm sure it will be yummy either way, but boy does that chili sure sound YUMMY!
10. Mike (my stepdad) got his real estate license this week! He's really excited, and I know he's going to be great at it. Also, Angela (my sis) is going to take her insurance license exam this weekend. I'm proud of both of them and excited about their new career opportunities!

Disney On Ice ~ Worlds of Fantasy

The kids and I took a trip to Columbia while Richard was at AT with the National Guard. Tyler has been wanting to see Disney on Ice. I was able to get really great front row seats. It was opening night, and they have all the tickets at a reduced rate. The kids loved being so close to the ice. It was so cold to me, but of course the kids didn't mind! Disney always does a great production. The costumes and special effects are always awesome. On the way down we stopped for a yummy dinner at Texas Roadhouse. We hadn't eaten there in a long time, and it was absolutely delicious! I enjoyed time with just me and the kiddos, but I was so glad glad to see Richard come home!

Just getting to their seats and waiting on the show to start

The "Big Curtain"

Gotta love them

All 3 of us

Tyler and his Mater hat

Mickey and Minnie start the show

And Goofy

Minnie kept coming over to Tyler and blowing him kisses. He thought it was the greatest thing in the world!

Tyler just about had a stroke at the this point. He'd been waiting so patiently for the "Cars" characters!

Sally

Flo

The whole gang minus...

Lightning McQueen!!!

"Life is a Highway..."

Ramone

Little Mermaid's Prince Eric

Ariel

Flounder and the sea creatures

Sebastian

"Under the Sea"

More sea creatures

The Lion King's Rafiki

Timon and Pumba

The person who did Pumba was awesome. They were all over the ice!

"The Circle of Life"

Simba and Nala

Tinkerbell and the Fairies

Tink

The fairies

Grand Finale

Confetti Time

Mickey and Minnie join the finale

Sierra's Prom

See, I told you I was really far behind on all my blogging. My sister went to the prom back in April, and I still haven't blogged about it! She got ready with her friend Micah. Right before they left for dinner, Marrissa joined them. She was just helping out this year with some other 10th graders, but her cocktail dress was too cute! It was so funny to watch Sierra and Micah get ready. It brought back so many memories. I remember my mom helping me get ready for my proms, and then it dawned on me. Mallory will be going to her first prom in just a few years. Wow! Time really does fly by. I just can't believe Sierra is old enough to go to prom. I can still remember the night she was born, and my daddy bringing her down the hall to show her to me and Angela. Now, she's talking about SAT's, driving, and looking at colleges. I feel lucky to be able to remember all the milestones in her life. I love being the older sister! Enjoy the pictures! The girls are just beautiful!

Marissa, Sierra, and Micah

Marissa and Sierra

I know I'm the odd one out. She and Angela look so much alike!

My baby sis

Sierra and her lifelong friend Micah

Mallory, Tyler, and CiCi (that's what Tyler calls her sometimes)

Mother and Daughter

Daddy and Sierra

Finally ready to go