HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANAW!!

i will try my hardest to get some fun pictures or video today...once the boys wake up (hopefully not for several more hours!) i just wanted to wish you a happy birthday as close to midnight as i could!!

how you can turn 1 oreo into 2

bubba discovered this today after he made a "happy plate", meaning he actually ate all of his lunch. now if you know bubba, he loves to eat. he snacks all day and loves healthy things. but when it comes to meals, he eats like a bird. well for lunch today, i made scrambled eggs with ham and cheese, toast and strawberries. (sandwiches get old fast, okay?) much to my surprise, he ate ALL of it, which in our house-at least for him-warrants a special treat. todays treat was a double stuff oreo.
i give him his oreo and proceeds, like any normal kid, to twist it apart. he then eats all the creme and is left with the 2 wafer sides. meanwhile, pooks finishes his plate so i give him 1 cookie. bubba leans over to pooks and says ''bra bra....ear'' (aka "brother, here?") and hands him both of his wafers. pooks grins from ear to ear, takes both cookies and proceeds to HAND HIS ENTIRE COOKIE over to bubba. grinning the entire time, and looks at me like ''hey mom, i had one cookie--now i have 2!)

"agh! what was i thinking?"

i look over at bubba who is happily twisting apart his 2nd oreo and begins eating the creme.

both kids are equally happy, neither feels jipped but i couldn't help but feel bad for poor lil naive pooks. (one could argue that he is greedy and say it as ''more'' cookie!?) once bubba realized he wasn't getting another, he happily ate the 2 sides of the 2nd cookies.

and that is how you turn 1 oreo into 2. or at least get to eat the creme from 2 cookies, while only eating one cookies.

Dinner and a movie

since getting pregnant (again!) i haven't actually cooked a whole heck of a lot. i mean sure we have spaghetti, baked chicken with potatoes, or we grill something; but i mean actual cooking. pots and pans, flour, messes, simmering and mashing, etc. you know, the dinners you were raised with.

well, let me clarify, the dinners that *I* was raised with. if you know me, you know that my mom is a great cook. she can make homemade chicken and noodles, from scratch. she makes authentic bierocks with homemade bread, from scratch. i mean the woman doesn't even own a bread maker! she makes Cinnamon rolls for breakfast on sunday morning, sugar cookies ''just beacause'' and actual twice baked potatoes! my mom makes homemade pudding. seriously there is no jell-o in her kitchen. (well unless my brothers home--the kids a freak and likes instant)

so needless to say, while i *should* be able to cook, i can't. maybe i don't have the determination or mind-set. maybe it will become more important as i get older. i can make some mean twice baked potatoes. i like to think my baked ziti rivals 'Old Chicago', and don't even mess with my shredded beef tacos! and to be honest, i don't think i'm 1/2 bad at baking. oatmeal raisin cookies i can do, i've never had a cake fall, and my eggnog pumpkin pie is awesome!

but, i have a pitfall. the ONE thing that i want to be able to cook, that i try to cook, and no matter what i either: a) screw it up, b) i'm not even impressed by it or c) by the time i'm done cooking it, i no longer even want it. everyone else says ''oh it tastes good'' or ''it looks great'' but i think they are just boosting my ego. kinda like when someone has a kind of ugly baby--you don't DARE say anything, you just compliment what you can. work around the bad parts kinda thing.

well, this is meal from hell: chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and HOMEMADE white gravy

i always f#@! it up! either the breading is too thin and falls off, or i use to much grease, or i overcook it, or the meat isn't tenderized enough. everytime i've made it, we've all eaten it (i mean, it is ediblie) but i wouldn't say its enjoyable. so when the pregnancy craving for chicken fried steak was pounding in my stomach, i had a choice.

1- take 2 overly tired kids, clear across town to either chilis or tx roadhouse--neither of which has the breading i like
2-wait til i'm home for the weekend and make/ask my mom to cook what i want on her own birthday dinner
3-do it myself

i chose option number 3. *gulp* i went and bought the stuff i needed (which surprisingly was just the meat! mom i had FLOUR on hand, and even...Crisco! i know you're shocked!)

during the boys nap today, rather than sleeping, i was dredging cube steak in a seasoned flour mixture, then whole milk, then flour again. i wrapped them up in wax paper and put them back in the fridge til dinner time.

when B got home, i went to work. can i just say, i freaking rocked it! i mean seriously i think this chicken fried steak could have been mistaken for my mama's! the breading was perfect; just before frying i dredged it in flour again and i think that's what did it. it was crispy and flaky but not dry, it was cooked thorughout but not tough. it was a beautiful golden color. i even took a picture, because i know several of you are thinking ''no way, was it like Pam's." oh it was. it was.

see for yourself:

rachel ray, eat your heart out!

(you should be able to click on the picture, if you really want to drool)

and plated, with the homemade gravy!

move over paula deen, i am in the house and i can cook a southern meal!

okay, okay so if i am super truthful (which we all know i can be brutally honest) i wasn't overly thrilled with the gravy. it didn't get quite as thick as i would have liked, but it tasted awesome! i didn't have to have my mom help me or do it for me---this didn't even warrant a phone call!

mom, your little girl is growing up. *tear*
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okay okay, now that i got that out of my system, here are pictures of the kids :)

the latest and greatest thing to the toddlers in our house is: POPCORN. ever since we took them to the movies on B's birthday, bubba is obsessed with "up-cone" as he calls it. everyday for a snack thats what he wants, and i'd say that probably every 2 days he actually gets it. (i know, i'm a mean mom). so we started a new thing in our house, which we've done the last 2 weeks and that is movie night.

the first week was when B was out of town, and we watched "finding nemo." well, we tried to watch "the lion king" but bubba wanted ''fish'', so simba was vetoed for marlin and dory.

sunday night the movie of choice was ''cars''. now both bubba and pooks have a TON of cars themed toys, books, a pillow--but they've never seen the movie. we tried showing bubba once when he was younger and he was not interested. well let me say, they were both interested this time! they loved it. i have a feeling we're going to need to buy the dvd in the near future.

so without further ado, the boys eating their "up-cone". oh and for those of you that are going ''you let your 14 month old eat popcorn?!" before your head starts spinning, i only give him the fluffest pieces, i double check that the doesn't get any kernals and the boys are never left unattended while eating it.

bubba (don't mind the glazed over look in his eyes, he was not going to look at me unless i stood infront of the screen!)

pooks. (he is looking at the camera only because i stood in front of the screen)

so that was my very long winded post. good thing its my blog and i can talk for as long as i want ;)

birth prediction

this is a birth prediction from Madame Zaritska at this website:

http://pregnancyandbaby.com/pregnancy/baby/Madame-Zaritska-predicts-your-birth-experience-736.htm
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What she senses for you
The day you deliver, outside will be overcast. Your baby will arrive at night.

After a labor lasting approximately 9 hours, your child, a boy, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 11 pounds, 6 ounces, and will be 20-1/2 inches long. This child will have dark brown eyes and be almost bald.

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umm...yeah. lets hope that she is REALLY wrong! seeing's how with pooks, my labor was 5 hours! even with bubba, where i was induced it only lasted 9 hours. i would like to think that my 3rd would be faster.

don't even get me started on having an 11 1/2lbs kid! AGH! 20.5 inches and almost 12lbs--thats like giving birth to a 3 mos old! i would DIE!

crazy crackpot of an internet psychic! just thought that i would share!

1/2 way there!

well, probably over 1/2 way. since i had bubba and pooks around 37 weeks, i'm assuming that this lil guy will be the same way. YIKES! to think we'll have another little baby in almost 4 months...this pregnancy is flying by!

oh, i had a dream last night that we named this baby "peanut". obviously i am not really going to name our child peanut, but i figure for now it could be his blog name...i'm kinda over saying 'this baby' 'baby boy' or 'baby #3". if jon and kate +8 don't need to number their kids, i sure as heck don't need to be numbering mine, lol!

speaking of names, you may have noticed that i added a poll to the right. i am asking you to vote for which name you think would be best for peanut. we thought we had it narrowed down, but since seeing him on the ultrasound and feeling him move--well, i'm just not sure. while i think all the names are cute, obviously his name needs to be more than just ''cute''. i have my favorite, as does B, now i'm asking for yours! leave a comment in this post if you'd like, i'd love to hear reasoning as to why that name would be best. and if you are my brother and dislike all the names, please refrain from commenting! oh and by the way the middle name is looking like "ray" for family reasons; it is my middle name, my mom's grandpa's middle name as well as my papa's middle name.

(disclaimer: although you will all be able so see which name wins the poll, i will not blog about the name we ultimately chose. if you'd like to know ask either myself, B, or nanaw. we will all know when we finally narrow it down. additionally just because a name wins on the poll, does not mean we will automatically choose it. we are simply asking for imput, not for you to name our offspring *wink*)
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so, i've been online shopping for peanut and between B and myself, we've decided on several things. first off, he doesn't need much (obviously)! i've been buying cute baby clothes on sale/clearance as i see them, because i sold ALL of our newborn-6mos clothing on craigslist way back in Jan. i thought we weren't going to be having more kids for a few years, so why hold on to all these hand-me-downs for that long? esp when we don't even know if the gender/season would line up. well anyways, i made awesome money but now i'm back to square one on the baby clothes! its been alot of fun shopping for tiny little things again...i'll try to take a picture of my stash sometime!

well with bubba the theme of his nursery bedding and overall baby theme was 'safari animals'. with pooks we chose ''dinosaurs'', dinosaur bedding and little dinosaur stuffed animals. this time we've chose ''pirates'', lol. there are so many cute pirate themed items out there right now! we got some onesies from carters, a gown/cap/blanket set from target, and even found pirate bedding:
how cute is that!?

really the only other thing we have to have, is a car seat. not too much. oh and we were looking at getting a new pack and play with a built in play mat/play bars. something like this: that way peanut can have a space to play without bubba and pooks stealing his things, and also we won't have to cart the current PnP back and forth to nanaw & papa's house. (especially since space will be limited in our ''van'')

anyways, i should mention that is said dream, not only did we name the baby peanut, but we were living back ''home''. lets hope that this is one dream that comes true!! (well except actually naming him peanut, lol!)

complete randomness

we didn't do a whole heck of a lot today. went to lunch with b, played outside, we read a TON of books, had breakfast for supper, then went to bed. overall a lazy day, but hey we got dressed. yesterday we didn't even do that ;)

tonight we let the boys play outside for a bit....not too long because bugs love our kids. they will get eaten alive regardless of how much bug spray you use. no joke. here are a few pics:

bubba was pretty excited to be on B's motorcycle! pooks was not :(

once they came inside it was time for bath and bed. i hadn't taken any bathtime pictures in awhile, so we did that too. these were my favs:

definitely excited!

awww....looking pretty grown up (he has 8 teeth now!)

the other thing i wanted to do was get a picture of me holding a naked pooks. we did this at 5 mos, then 10mos, and now he is a few weeks shy of 15mos old! YIKES!!! he sure has gotten big!

5 months old

10 mos old

today, almost 15mos old

"Hey Ya'll"

today was a little rough. both kiddos were sick with low fevers and runny poo's. pooks was clingy, bubba was fussy and mama was tired! so i have a quick little story to share but no pics tonight.

after naptime today we came out into the living room. the boys were eating their snack (today bubba picked out nilla wafers) and i was watching food network. it was "Paulas Home Cooking" with Paula Deen. we don't normally watch it and we caught it in the middle but the boys weren't complaining so i left it on. she made a bacon cheeseburger meatloaf (which surprisingly looked delicious, and i hate meatloaf!), then some sort of soup, then before it cut to commercial, she showed what was ''coming up after the break.....a chocolate sybil cake". all the sudden out of the blue, pooks gets up, walks up to the tv and proceeds to say:

"mmmmm".......*5 seconds later, even louder*....."MMMMMMMM"

he then stands there through the ENTIRE commercial break, and when she comes back on with her ''Hey Ya'll" he clapped! when the camera panned to the chocolate cake again, he resumed his ''mmmmm'', getting louder and louder with each one. eyes never leaving the TV.

about this time B walks in (he'd just gotten off of work and happened to have stopped for some groceries) and pooks walks up to him going "MMMMM". B is laughing, i am laughing hysterically trying to explain to him that pooks probably thinks that B has a chocolate sybil cake in that bag. B says ''what?" so I rewind the show (thank you DVR) so the cake is on the screen again. I tell pooks to look at the tv and he proceeds to walk back to the TV, eyes never leaving it, going ''MMMMMM". i think he thought if he "MMMM'd" loud enough, Paula Deen might just give him a slice. LOL.

oh, if you're interested, here is the link to todays show, you can click on the cake to see a picture...it doesn't look that good in the picture but it did on tv!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_pa/episode/0,1976,FOOD_10234_48206,00.html

and mom, if you wanna make the meatloaf, i will eat it! i would make it but the smell of mayo makes me gag, and the though of stirring up raw ground beef makes my stomach curl....but i'd be happy to eat it! ;)

guess who else is expecting???

pooks! lol. he thought he was hilarious walking around with a big 'ol belly. (aka soccer ball). he went in the living room to show bubba and accidentally gave birth on the way...
right as he got to bubba, his baby dropped--literally. he laughed and made his little snorty noise like it was just the funniest thing! i thought that it was adorable. he was just so excited about it.

oh and here is a number one sign that bubba will take good care of his lil' brothers:
he was shopping in the playroom but made sure that both ''arfs" were seated properly in the shopping cart. here is a picture of the stud:
i don't know if its my hormones or what, but he's just starting to look so grown up!

YAY!!!

B fixed my camera!!

well, i hadn't even posted about it breaking so let me back up. 2 nights ago we were on our way out the door to go to the park and i grabbed my lovely DSLR that rocks hoping to get some more cute pics of the boys together. well i set it on the end table by the door then turned around to grab the water bottle off of the kitchen table. well in that 10second time span pooks grabbed the camera strap, thus causing the camera to fall and land on the floor. it only fell about a foot and landed on carpet but it was acting all screwy. it wouldn't focus at all. there was no visual damage...it turned on and everything but when you went to take a pic, esp in auto focus, nothing happened.

i was heartbroken. i spent over an hour yesterday playing with settings hoping it was something that just got changed. well, to no avail i couldn't get it to work. i googled it, asked about it on a photography forum, etc and everything was pointing to the lens. which would be about $150 to replace (brand new)---while is 1/4 of the cost of the camera body, its still not very reassuring.

B was all ' 'i've told you to be more careful, i'm sorry it happened but it was bound too...the strap is always hanging down....i couldn't get to him quick enough....etc''. well then he offered to fix it. now if you know me, and you know my husband, this isn't neccessarily always a reassuring thing. i love him and appreciate the offer but he doesn't have the highest patience level while fixing things. well, i don't know what he did but the camera works! he said something about the end of the lens feeling loose, he jiggled it and viola -- the camera works again! it focuses and works great!

was it skill or luck....i'll let you decide ;)

regardless, there will be new pictures tomorrow!

i chopped off all of my hair

well, not that anyone really knew how long it was in the first place, lol. i am notorious for pulling it back. my hair is a huge frizzy afro most days, pooks likes to pull on it and it was really damaged from pregnancy and the summer weather so i said ''get rid of it''. and i did. i seriously don't think its been this short since i was like 9 years old. its different and it'll take some getting used to but i think i like it. i wore a headband today---i honestly don't know if i've ever worn a headband before (okay well i know i did once but it was a bunny costumes and the ears weren't gonna grow out of my head!)

anyways, here is a pic of my new 'do. oh and before cutting it, it was down to shoulder blades. i included a REALLY crappy pic.

in this belly pic, you can see how long it was...sorta.

and this is my 'do today. (excuse the cheesy self-portrait)
short huh? be honest---does it make my face look fat? thats the one thing I worried about going so short while being so pregnant. *sigh*

TaDa!!

so....what do you think of the new layout??

i am very excited! i actually did it all by myself rather than using a pre-made template. (which is what i usually do). the top header i made in photo shop using a digital scrapbooking kit and for it being my first time, i think it turned out quite well. granted, i'll have to be making a new one in a couple of months :) but at least the colors are right!

oh one other thing, i turned back on anonyomous commenting. i simply ask that if you do not have a google account and wish to comment, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know who you are. even a simple ''auntie initial initial'' or something at the bottom of your comment. you don't have to say "this is Jane Doe from Timbuktu and I wanted to say"...no no no. this isn't a radio request line or anything! i just love knowing who is reading!

i love blogging, i love talking and sharing about the boys and updating everyone but i am serious about keeping our private info, private. its a whacked out world we live in, and i want my one small page on this world wide web to stay (relatively!) sane. hence why you can't find it in a search engine or listed in a random blogger listing. i do my part, please do yours.

Thanks!!!

in case you haven't heard....

we are having:

a healthy baby.....

BOY!!

He is measuring right on track and developing perfectly! He has a little 4 chamber heart that was beating away at 155bpm! His kidneys, bladder, bones, spine, etc all looked great. He was moving all around in there! We have decided on a name (well at least a first name...we think!) but as we all know, i don't use/share real names on my blog. but if you want to know, just email me or check out my facebook page!

now that you've seen his view on the inside, here is our view from the outside! 19 weeks!

(ignore the red mark, i walked into the baby gate latch this morning and gave myself a nice bruise)

how to eat an apple

as demonstrated by pooks:

STEP 1: First off you want to taste the apple, make sure that you like apples
STEP 2: MMMM! If you decide that you like apples, continue with the next step
STEP 3: Place apple in your mouth and say "Cheese"
Step 4: Relax the ''cheesing'' a bit to open eyes. Is mom impressed??
STEP 5: After making mom laugh (then instilling the fear that I may choke) show her that I can remove the apple.
STEP 6: Coyly eat remaining apple. Mmmm!;)

pictures, updates, milestones---oh my!

firstoff, we have had a couple of busy days!

on saturday bubba came down with a cold. well its either a cold or allergies. so far we have no green boogies so i don't think its an infection. but needless to say he's been a bit cuddly and he sounds very nasally when he talks. tonight he seemed to be doing better. he is taking his medicine like a pro! you know he doesn't feel good when i say ''bubba come take your medicine for your nose'' and he says ''ahhh" while opening his mouth. this is the child who usually, we have to pin to the ground to take medicine!!

yesterday was the first time that the baby kicked hard enough that I felt it from the outside, when my hand was resting on my belly! i'm almost 1/2 through this pregnancy and overall i feel really good! i can't wait for the ultrasound to find out the gender (only 4 more days!) and obviously, to see that the baby is healthy.

today, for the first time ever, pooks stood up all by himself! he's been walking for a couple weeks now but he usually crawls over to something, pulls himself to stand, then walks. not tonight! we were at the park and (although it was a bit rough) he stood up without any assistance! what a big boy!!

tonight after dinner we took the boys to the park. its been awhile since we've gone because its either been so stinkin' hot or raining. tonight was a perfect 83 degrees and there was plenty of shade. i took my dslr hoping to get some good pics and i did fairly well if i say so myself! here they are, and warning....there are a ton!!

B and Bubba--finally!

bubba just hanging around
pooks on a bouncy pelicanme and my boys...sadly, this was the best pic
the next pictures are in sequence. they are of pooks standing (for the VERY first time)

Step 1: get off of butt

Step 2: try to lift body weight straight up Step 3: correct error from step 2, use HANDS to help lift body up
Step 4: Tada! Stand in time to impress the big kids

okay this next picture, I have to say is my all time favorite picture of the boys together. i'm serious. this pictures will melt the coldest hearts and make you say an audible "Awww". if i had a mantle, this would be on it.

i'm not exaggerating.

not at all.

are you ready??

i mean this could come with a disclosure: "caution, if you are pregnant this picture is so cute it may cause you to weep"

take a deep breath....

now say it will me....''awww''

*tear* they are so damn cute!