All or nothing.

Today is Bug's 3rd birthday, but I am too tired to do a post on that, so instead I am choosing to capture a precious video of him. 

Like most kids, Anderson is seriously all or nothing when it comes to...everything. We don't play around.

Construction? He knew the difference between the tread of bobcats loaders and other brand skid steer loaders. (weird. I didn't even know what those were until he told me).

Rescue? Ambulance sounds vs. police car sounds vs. fire truck sounds vs. fire chief truck sounds (apparently there are different fire sirens)

Now. we are entering the dinosaur phase. It started with an old dinosaur pop up book that belonged to one of Sherri's kids. (She gave me a box of old books last year and I randomly pull one out every now & then) It seriously is missing an entire dinosaur because it was so "loved". Anyway, he liked to read it, so we did. Then, he found a little T-Rex that Aunt Manda had given him once (how does she always know the next phase??) and one of Kyler's old orange triceratops. I mentioned he liked the book to Noni who got him some small ones on clearance at Walgreens. That darn book was a slippery slope. Now, he cannot find out enough information about dinosaurs. We have to watch them on YouTube (we found a really creepy dinosaur documentary called Speckles that is told in first person) and re-read the missing page pop up book over and over. Luckily for him, he received some dinosaurs for his birthday, so the obsession will continue, I am sure. (MUCH more on the birthday in later posts. Of course, please stay tuned for the Firetruck themed birthday party....I clearly planned too soon.)

But, here is a precious video of him explaining about his dinosaurs. I think the fact that it was totally impromptu goes without saying based on the background and the fact that I keep laughing.

See ya, 2012.

In no particular order, the events that shaped us over 2012:

1. FOUR HOURS OFF THE PATCH!
I said no particular order & I meant that, but this is near the top spot for sure.

Nothing will ever be as great as hearing Dr. Cogen say, " I am going to give you 4 hours off." Unless it was hearing him say, "You HAVE to leave it off 4 hours" six months later.

Seriously, that 4 hours lifted a huge load off of our shoulders, restored our sanity, provided the faith/hope/inspiration/motivation to keep on patching and realize it truly is working.

I can cry just thinking about it.

2. JACK'S CLEAN SCAN!
We entered 2012 with some serious concerns with our JPa because he was still battling lymphoma, but he has since had a stem cell transplant, lots of appointments and, most importantly, POSITIVE news from his latest scans. Such relief! But, not complete surprise, because we knew he was going to win!

3. MY NEW JOB
6 months in, and I am  patting myself on the back for surviving one of the biggest shocks of my life. Seriously, I put switching jobs/careers/schools in the same category as adjusting to a new baby. I was borderline crazy for awhile & need to thank everyone who helped me through it. I miss teaching every single day (had a dream about a Civil War graphic organizer the other day...) and my FHS friends/kids/cheerleaders/etc., but I am really enjoying my life as a Powell panther & figuring out what my new role in education looks like.

4. BRANDON'S NEW JOB
Because my husband is awesome (awesome=hard core/motivated/intelligent/strong/hard working) he is now doing new work that he loves. And, we have most weekends together, which has not happened in the 6 years that we have been married, so that is still shocking to me!

I am so proud to be married to someone who does a job that is cool enough for his kid to dress up like him on Halloween! Because, if there is "cool job" criteria, I think that is it.

5. THE DARN WASHING MACHINE
The leaking washing machine caused some major inconveniences & I did not think the reconstruction of our house was ever going to end. But...it did, of course, and now we have new floors and yet another addition to our constantly changing perspective of day to day life.

6. PREGNANCIES
Because 2 new jobs and a complete re-flooring of our house wasn't enough, I decided to shake up the calm & get pregnant. You know, never want to have a calm moment around here. Seriously, once the initial shock wore off, we were, of course, THRILLED! I literally cannot believe that I am lucky enough to be the Bobble to 2 boys. I find myself sort of stalking random people I see in public with 2 boys. Watching, learning, trying to hide my excitement.

Also, I am getting a new niece in Feb, which is just as life changing. Remember, Nicole's kids are genetically mine, so it is a nice set up for me!

And, as if it couldn't get any better, Lucy, my very own goddaughter, will be here in Feb, too!!

7. EUROPE TRAVELS
I went to Europe with my sister for 2 weeks! You would think this would have only affected the 12 days or whatever we were gone, but no. We are planners (x2) with hoarding instincts coupled with a bit of OCD, so this literally consumed our lives for the 6 months prior to our departure. So many conversations/texts included, "I was thinking____ for Europe." It was awesome to spend so much time with Nicole without being distracted by anything, except for gondolas, red wine and the ALPS!

8. CRUISING
I include the cruise in my top events because it was really a lot of fun and we made some great memories. I am definitely open to another cruise when our children start sleeping at least 8 hours at night.Great memories were made!

9. CONSTANTS
As I type all of this and am reminded of the stress/fun/excitement/etc., I am reminded that the reason all of ti happened was due to the constants in my life. My hard working husband who provides for us, awesome family/friends to plan trips, Dr. Cogen, and, most of all, my mom who puts up with my mega grumpiness during the stressful times and offer mega excitement (and kid watching for 12 days) during the exciting times.

I cannot believe so much has happened in 2012 and am looking forward to the possibly shorter? 2013 list!

2012 Books

Jan 1, 2012: I love to read. This is going to be a record of all of the books I read in a year. I think it will be fun.

Where it all began. I think we were supposed to be unpacking, or possibly growing our hair out. Either way, we were definitely caught up in the books.  

Jan 1, 2013: This was fun. I didn't end up recording all the books because I kept forgetting about it, but I like to look back on what I thought was worthy of writing down. *I mentioned earlier that I love to read. I do not have any more time than anyone else ( I work at least 50 hours a week, have a 2 year old who never sleeps, have the same chores/errands/etc. that everyone else does.) It drives me crazy when people say, "I wish I had more time to read." I choose reading over sleeping, cooking, watching TV,  working out, sitting down, etc. If this was a list of what I watched on TV all year it would be a few episodes of Breaking Bad & Walking Dead and one episode of Modern family in October. I am SO lucky that I am a fast reader, but, at the same time, it is the only thing (besides my family, of course) that I truly enjoy. I am not trying to be defensive, I think reading just means different things to different people and to me it is as crucial as oxygen, food and sleeping in socks. *

1. Unbroken EXCELLENT! It deserves the top spot, for sure. This is the true story of a punk kid turned Olympic athlete who is drafted in WWII. While he is serving in the navy in the Pacific Theater his plane is shot down. He lives for months on a raft before being captured by the Japanese & surviving years as a POW. True story. Awesome narrative. Really, really captivating. Stop reading and go get this book!

2. Outliers This one is a lot like "Freakonomics", if you've ever read that. He analyzes really successful people (the outliers) & tries to make connections between their lives. Pretty interesting. I was intrigued by the first chapter which bases success on your age when you start something. He argued that kids who start school on the older side are more successful. Nicole and I were 4 (bday in August) & we were pretty successful, I think. Then, I remembered the intro about this community in Pennsylvania that has a crazy low average of heart disease. It's because they have built in support with each other. Made me realize that is why we broke the rule about the age thing. We had constant support-each other. 

3. Slaughterhouse 5

Hmmm. I can see why this is an anti war novel because it was definitely a bit depressing. It was also sort of odd. 

 

4. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
SO good!! This one blends history, sociology, science and a fascinating story. She tells the story of the first line of cells that didn't die. Despite reading the book,  I have no idea how to explain that in more scientific terms. A 30 year old woman died of cervical cancer in the 1950's & her cells have contributed to various vaccines (including polio & HPV), the use of chemo drugs, genetic predictions, etc. I am doing a really terrible job explaining this book, but I promise it is good!

5. One for the Money Cute, easy to read. I think Katherine Heigl is in the movie version & it seems like a good fit. 

Ok, I keep forgetting to put some of them on here. Change of plans: I am only putting the good books, that I actually recommend and liked enough to remember on here!

6. Operation Mincemeat
Another WWII one-it's about a deception plan to trick the Germans into thinking the Allied invasion of Europe was going to be in Greece instead of Sicily. (The first invasion...the second invasion was D-Day/Normandy) I had no idea so much detail went into things like this. The Allies took a dead body and created a fake identity for him, attached some papers with hints & dropped him off the shore of Spain. He washed up...history! It's not as easy to read as Unbroken if you don't like history.

7. A Dog's Purpose 
Told from the perspective of a dog trying to find his purpose. Made me cry and hug my dogs a lot. Not in a depressing way, but in a sort of positive way. I liked it better than Marley & Me. I have my own Marley-her name is Chloe. She has eaten light bulbs, crayons, diapers and dryer sheets, chewed on pepper spray & drug it through the entire house, ran into random people's houses & cars and made me lost more apartment deposits than I care to admit.

8. Secret Daughter Traces the connection between a baby girl born in India, her birth mother & her adoptive mother. This book made me so happy to live in the good ol' USA. (Not in the "A Thousand Splendid Suns" way, but in a calm grateful way).

9. The Foremost Good Fortune A memoir of a woman who uprooted her family from Maine & moved to Beijing, where she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Very well written and it made me want to know more about modern day China.

10. The Story of Beautiful Girl Very good-definitely recommend. The story follows a deaf black man and a mentally handicapped, pregnant white woman who is pregnant after they escape from "The School." Different, in a good way.

11. Once Upon A Secret 
Written by JFK's teenage mistress, this book was so interesting/creepy/sad/insightful. I knew JFK was scum with the whole unfaithful thing, but this girl was 18 when the affair began &, while she did continue

12. The Feminine Mystique Realized I never read this despite the fact that I teach about the role it played in starting the Women's Movement. Made me so grateful that women fought for equality (and the right to wear pants) well before I was born. I am very grateful.

13. The Hunger Games trilogy If you haven't read these you must live under a rock. READ THEM! I had to re read before the first movie. I enjoyed the set much more the second time.

14. The Other America Another book that I teach about-it started LBJ's Great Society. Stats are outdated, but interesting take on cycles of poverty. Made me a little sad.

HUGE BREAK because Brandon & got Netflix & are hooked on Breaking Bad & The Walking Dead, so not as much time to read!

15. Destiny of the Republic  AWESOME! I would never have found this on my own, so thanks goes to the FHS library. It follows the shooting of President Garfield through his death months later. He didn't die from the bullet, but from the infection from nasty fingers in his back as doctors searched for the bullet. I knew that (I teach History), but the story was SO much more. It told of the mind of his assassin, Guiteau, and how Lister was promoting antiseptic in surgery but people didn't believe the need for cleanliness and sterilization because they couldn't see the germs. (Long sentence, but I'm excited) And Bell invented the metal detector to locate the bullet, so it follows him a bit, as well. VERY interesting.

16. 11/22/63 This is a hefty (900 pages) Stephen King novel that involves time travel, the present day/late 1950's & JFK's assassination. It was a pretty good read for most of it, but the last third was a little slow. Mediocre, I guess. I did enjoy the description of life in the late 50's, though.

17. Goodnight, Goodnight Construction SiteAnderson & read a lot of books, but this one makes the list because it is just so cute. The rhyme, the story, the pics, the author's bio (she has 2 boys & it says "she is constantly inspired and often exhausted"). It is definitely one I don't mind reading over & over.

18. Mere Christianity Odd. I really tried to get into this one, but I just couldn't. I prefer Narnia.

19. Steve Jobs (Walter Isaacson)  Holy Ridiculous. FASCINATING!! He authorized the writing of this & basically picked out the author but didn't want any say over what was written. He is seriously a genius. A hippie, weirdo, creative, visionary, world changing, odd GENIUS! I will never be able to look at any Apple product again without being totally mesmerized. I honestly want to do an entire post on this book. Here are just a few fascinating tidbits: I realize he "borrowed" a few ideas but he said, "I'd rather be a pirate than in the Navy." He created Woody as a goody guy in Toy Story because Disney made him a bad guy-Jobs basically risked the company on re-writing the character but it totally paid off, one of his weird diets was called "fruitarian", hence Apple, there are reasons behind the white ipod accessories and the presentation and color and function of everything Apple creates, the feud with Adobe! I had no idea why my ipad doesn't work with Adobe, but now I love it! He started personal computers, added fonts because of one day in a calligraphy class in college, saved the music industry with itunes, changed music with the ipod, changed phones with iphone... Anyway, I just went on a rant. You need to read this book. This guy literally changed the world. My one major regret for him is that he didn't have surgery when he was first diagnosed with cancer. His next major project he had planned? Changing education. Sigh. If anyone could do it...

"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." -APPLE

20. A Thousand White Women Fiction story based on white women being "traded" to Indians to help in the process of assimilation. Very creative story. 

21. Sh*t my Dad Says

Hilarious.  Very easy to read and each quote/story made me laugh harder than the previous one. Here's a preview...

22. Friday Night Lights
A true story, that centers around a small town in Texas in the late 80's & their obsession over high school football. Interesting/sad/insightful all at once. 

23. Caddie Woodlawn
This was a re-read from one of my favorites when I was little. It is based on a pioneer girl who is  a tomboy & friends with Indians.  I think it is one of the subconcsious reasons I became a history teacher. 

24. Guns, Germs & Steel
Very disappointed. It's about the downfall of civilizations based on geography. Boring. Boo. 

25. Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer
This was actually really good! I was really hesitant to read it because it just sounds sort of dumb. But, the connections between actual events/primary sources was excellent. I really enjoyed it, want to see the movie!

26. The Postmistress
Set in WWII. Interesting writing. Made me sad because people died. (Duh, it was written about a war. But, still. )

27. The Happiness Project
VERY GOOD. One of the top ones that I will recommend from the year. Nicole gave it to me & it really made me stop and think about how much I complain and how much I really can control the reaction I have to life. 

28. What Alice Forgot 
Another Nicole loan book. LOVED this one, too. It was the unfortunate recipient of a "fire fighter" incident as I was trying to sneak in a little reading time when we were outside & Anderson thought I was on fire so he sprayed me/book with the hose. Very easy to read, very well written. 

29. Sippy Cups are not for Chardonnay
A book about becoming a mom & trying to make it ok to not be super organic & hippie. 

30. Such a Pretty Little Fat
Jen Lancaster is hilarious & I am immediately reserving her other books at the library. Hilarious. Seriously. 

31. Pretty in Plaid
My second Jen Lancaster one. I told you she is funny.  

32. Fearless
I love America.Books like this make me even more in love with America. Following the life of a Navy SEAL, Adam Brown, it captures his low points of drug use &, of course, his high points of being a total badass. I've always had the utmost respect for all American soldiers and their families, but after reading this, I am officially sold on their amazingness. 

33. The Pact Eh. It was good while I was reading it, but it was very typical of Jodi Picoult...crime, trial, twist. They sort of blend together. 

34. Game Change
Another one I've read before, but it is just so relevant as the next election is coming up. This book made me hate John Edwards, sort of terrified of Sarah Palin & created some sympathy for Hillary Clinton.

35. Bitter is the New Black
Jen Lancaster. I'm ridiculous. 

36. Benjamin Franlin
Trying to brush up on some early American biographies before school starts!

37. Undaunted Courage
One of the summer reading books that I assigned my kids. FASCINATING story. Women kick butt. Seriously, the 3 year journey of Lewis & Clark would not have been possible without Sacajawea. AND, she was 15 and pregnant! (her baby daddy was a guy who kidnapped her) They story is not just about her (like 2 paragraphs are), but she just stuck out a lot to me. 

39. One and the Same Twins. 

40. Life of Pi I liked this one, but it was a thinker. I am not sure that last sentence was grammatically correct. I definitely recommend it. 

41. The Tipping Point
Sort of like "Outliers". Commentary on why things are they way the are.

42. I suck at Girls. 
HILARIOUS!! Very short read. I literally laughed the entire book

43. The Birthhouse About a midwife who delivers babies. Interesting, but I am scarred about the lack of anesthesia in the book. 

44. The Time Traveler's Wife Interesting. I want to see the movie now. 

45. Tiny, Beautiful Things READ this one! It is a series of responses from an advice column. A very honest, lots of cussing, to the point advice column. It's written by Cheryl Strayed, who wrote Wild (which I have yet to read because the library apparently has one copy)

46.The Lifeboat This book was awful. I am only including it to tell you not to read it. 

47. A Casual Vacancy Why, J.K.Rowling, WHY?? If you had so much extra time to write a book where is "Hogwarts, A History"? You should be ashamed at yourself. This book was pretty good, I could just not get over JK R's betrayal. 

48. Girl in Translation Really good. Read it in 2 days (while working, so basically after 10pm at night). It sucked me in. Girl moves to America with her mom from Hong Kong, works in a factory, is a genius at school. 

49. Wild Very, very good. She hiked the Pacific Trail (with very little experience) as a way to get over her grief for losing her mother. Very descriptive, great word choice, really good story. 

50. How Starbucks Changed my Life Did not change my life. 

51-57. Harry 1-7 Oh, Harry. And, Hermione, Ron, Neville, Mad Eye, Tonks, Lily, Luna, Hagrid, Minerva and MOST OF ALL, Albus....where would I be without you in my life? I shudder to think about it. I enjoyed re-reading these books as much as they first time I read them. This series sums up all that is magical about reading. (pun intended). My favorite parts always remain every single scene with Dumbledore, when Lily appears out of the the Resurrection Stone and tells Harry she is proud of him (tears, every single time), when Ron becomes funny and sarcastic, the vivid descriptions of the Hogwarts scenery/food/paintings/etc. and Hagrid, in general. Oh, and McGonagall. And, Lupin. And, Neville. And, the rest of the books.

58. Gone Girl 

A fitting end of year book, I guess. As in 2012 is Gone, Girl!. ha ha. This books was ok, not nearly as great as the hype, but definitely a good one. (I seriously read it on Dec 31-stayed up way to late to finish it because it was due back at the library and I will not pay a 10 cent late fee!. Good thing it was New Year's Eve & Brandon was working, so I had a few hours!)

59. Your Pregnancy, Week by Week I think I am on Week 21 now. I love pretending like I have some control over my pregnancy by reading a few pages every Thursday and finding out he is the size of a banana, he is starting to grow hair and, by now, my back is starting to hurt. Love it. 

Twas the night before Christmas... & the actual day!

Family pic after mass. One perk of your kid wearing an eyepatch is if his eye is closed in a pic, it is not quite as obvious. How great is this pic, though? ALL 3 of us are in it! ( well, 4, I guess...)

Pillow fighting! We spent Christmas Eve day with Noni, Bop, Bham & Bristol family at lunch and mass and then went to the Glover's that night to see the Sextons & the Andersons!

It is a little fuzzy, but here is the yearly pic with Santa at GGs. He looks so BIG!

Brandon was quick to change after mass & I love how it looks like we coordinated in Christmas colors. We didn't, but let's pretend, shall we?

Cookies with JPa! ( BEST gift was the most recent positive scan, of course! Way to go, JPA!)

Aunt LoLo sure knows how to spoil Anderson! She found him such fun toys and how CUTE is this pic? He LOVES these Sonix cities that she got him-I think they are his favorite present!

Perk of being the mom: pass the toys off to Dad to put together!

Annual gag gift exchange at the Glovers! Toni "won" the fruitcake this year, in the first round! My camera battery died before that part, so I just got a pic of her posing with Curtis' gift!

Anderson was just a bit confused on whether this was actually Uncle Curtis or Santa. It was hilarious. 

Hanging out, waiting for gifts!

Christmas Eve time! We each picked out a cookie (Fire truck chocolate sucker from Anderson, elephant turd & pretzel) & made Santa's plate!

We put on our new jammies (new pjs on Christmas Eve is a must, of course) & read "Twas the Night Before Christmas". Despite the fact that it was after 10 & his eyes look closed, Anderson was definitely awake at this point. In fact, I did not think he was ever going to fall asleep that night! I have heard rumors of parents who have yearly traditions of watching movies or wrapping presents after their kids go to bed, and, yet again, I guess vacation parenting is nice. As it was, he was up until 11, I think, so we had to allow plenty of time for the big man to come down the chimney! 

And, SANTA visited during the night!! I LOVE, LOVE being Santa. How freaking awesome is parenting?? For every sleepless night (year, in our case), we get these awesome days/moments/memories that just make it all worth it. 

:) Thank you, FOUR HOURS OFF OF THE PATCH, for allowing us to have pics of his sweet face on Christmas for the first time in 3 years!

I love the distraction of the new trains WHILE opening the stocking!

He was SO good on Christmas morning & was not even upset about the fact that we had moved his chair! (progress from last year:) He said, "I thought I was just getting one toy!" and kept telling us how happy he was and was generally just perfect. I loved it. He kept pointing everything out and showing us what everything does. He loved his fire station (a doll house of sorts with a ton of pieces, fire truck AND A BELL-the favorite part), the train crane and the monster truck. Most of the wrapped presents were crafty things, new shoes and a few little toys.

Anderson helping Daddy with this stocking. I think he was very confused about the boring things that were in our stockings.

I can't wait until there is even more chaos of presents next year! 2 little boys swimming in paper and toys will just be too much!

Makes Santa's heart happy. Note to self: start removing tags next year... Also, don't throw away the fire station box where he can see it. We are still relatively new at this gig, so we are learning!

The girls were even given goodies, which means that whole, "Naughty" list must not really exist. Chloe also had a few more treats later in the day, as she found some extra candy to eat in our stockings while we were gone. Apparently, fun dip is her favorite. 

 I didn't get a pic, but Mom took him to the Dollar Store & had him pick out gifts for us, and he was SO excited to give me a vase to put flowers in at work and a candle. He got Brandon a flashlight & a candle. It was so sweet.  He kept saying, "Don't break the vase, Bobble!"

Then it was off to GG's! Posing with Pappaw!

Toni got Anderson this awesome cash register & it was cool enough for the uncles to play with, too!

A Polar Express train! Again, I passed the construction part of it on to Brandon, while I made a snack.

Back to Noni's on Christmas night for MORE food, family and fun!

The last present we opened that morning was from Georgie & it was a remote control helicopter! Georgie the ghost lived in our attic when we were growing up & used to always give a family gift. We knew it was from him because there was no tag & it was wrapped in different paper. Anderson loves Georgie and was pumped with the last present, even though he is a little too young for it. Noah & Kyler had received helicopters, too, so they were all flown outside that night! Brandon has become an expert at flying it by now and it is always zooming around the house! (Georgie got an amazing deal on this helicopter on Amazon in October-MAKE www.hip2save.com a bookmarked page because she posts all these amazing deals!)

A little more cousin time!

Christmas take 1

Perhaps you were hoping that I would do multiple Christmas posts? Well, then, your wish is granted.

Seriously, though, there is no way to shove all of this on one post without losing interest (I am talking about my own interest, of course), so here goes TAKE 1: Christmas with the Bishops/Hughes/Glover/Salvaggio family. 

Do not underestimate my mom's planning/creative gene, even when there are 12 (sort of 14) of us. We used to always get matching pjs at Christmas because that has become increasingly more difficult as we are all pretty much adults. So, these were our family pic outfits for this year!

We didn't realize it was automatically set to take 10, so we have about 18 of these, too. 

The grandkids! (until next year...)

We have stolen the English cracker/crown tradition from the Kerseys:)

Yes, why yes we fit in this space with ALL of our presents. I don't think anything was lost, but I am also not entirely sure what everyone got. We really tried to play the "One at at time" game. But, then there were Lily & Anderson...

Not at Noni's, but it is Christmas related.We technically missed one week of Advent mass, but we still lit all 4 candles by the end. Anderson  has no idea why we had an Advent wreath, but the kid loves some fire, so we were set.

LOTS of wrestling with Uncle Zack & the cousins. I love just sort of showing up & then locating my kid when it is time to leave, knowing someone, somewhere is taking care of him.

We started a new tradition this year-"Minute to Win It" games! Lily & Anderson went first & very successfully pulled all of the tissues out of a box in about 12 seconds. 

Brandon dominated some ping pong pushing game.

Christmas tree drawing on our heads. (Um...Aunt Manda, where is your green shirt??)

My mom, who seriously loves some games, rocked the dice game.

At one point, in the middle of the chaos, wrapping paper, multiple conversations, we noticed a deep conversation taking place between these 2. Lily invited him to Disney World to see all of the princesses & Anderson said he would see the boy princesses. Then, they told each other they love each other. Was precious.

Love the difference :)

I didn't get many presents shots, but Mom got him a fireman outfit and made him a hose out of pipe & a nozzle. He is SO official.

Nicole is 30 weeks (I think) and I am 19 weeks. Mom got us matching outfits because how many people are lucky enough to a.)be a twin AND b.) be pregnant at the same time as her??

Cousins:)

They're blue!

Ahem.  

I do recall a certain Bobble TOTALLY CALLING THIS ONE!!! 

Never underestimate the power of a Bobble to know the true nature of her boy, even in utero. 

we. are. thrilled. 

All looked good, which was the best part of course. I kept interrupting her to ask about body parts, making her double check things, etc. It is just worrisome. Because HE is literally camped out in my hip bone, I have to go for another ultrasound next week to get a better head measurement. Anderson was also camped out in a hip (the opposite side) and we called him the Groundhog for awhile. I, apparently, have cozy hips. We took A to the visit and he was SO good. He loved seeing the baby and hearing the heartbeat. He kept repeating the tech, saying, "the baby's feet", etc. as if he could really see those things. 

 Because I am a weirdo (or, perfectly normal and just choose to delay exciting news), I did not want to find out the gender in the hospital with goo all over my stomach and some woman I don't know sort of imposing on the family moment. (Instead, I choose to share the moment with the Internet, but whatever) So, my perfect, trooper of a husband indulged me & filled a box with balloons to let us know the news! You may have see this on Pinterest, but it usually involves professional photography in a field, so we went the lower maintenance route. I was pumped.

 Anderson decided today that it was a girl. Seriously, he has never made a choice before today, while we were at the hospital. As we opened the box, he said, "I thought it was a girl." with a sad voice. I said, "Don't you want a brother to play trucks and dinosaurs with you?" and he said, "I want a brother, I just thought it was a girl." He just wanted to be right. Hilarious.

 I cannot believe I am lucky enough to have 2 of these. It's like finding out we won the lottery AGAIN!

I cannot wait until I have MY BOYS in my arms to love and chase and make truck noises with and hold their hands and embarrass them and dance with them at their weddings and love them to pieces!