Elf on the Shelf

We are starting a new tradition in the Black household this Christmas season. Elf on the Shelf. First we introduced the elf to Carson and he got to name him. He choose the name Christmas Tree so we rolled with it and are going to shorten it to Chris. Then we explained to Carson that Chris the elf is going to be here everyday in December to make sure that he is going to be a good boy because at night time Chris flies back to Santa to give him a daily report. Now I will admit that my son is pretty intelligent, but does he understand all of this? Of course not! He does understand good= presents bad=no presents.

After tomorrow hopefully he will get the idea that he gets to wake up and find his friend Chris the elf in all kinds of different places. Maybe as it gets closer to Christmas, if Carson is being a extra good boy, Chris the elf might have little gifts for him when he finds him in the morning.

I love Christmas traditions and thanks to my mother in law this is another one we will get to add to the mix.

Here is Christmas Tree the elf sitting on Carson's table with his coloring book waiting for him to find him on the first day of December. 25 days to go!

First Mommy Moment

I had a first this week. For the last two days every time I have gotten in my car I think to myself...something smells really bad in here.

Check list of possible smelly things:
- dirty diapers on either boy
- dirty seats from overflow of prior dirty diaper
- dirty diaper that was left in the car on accident
- spit up/throw up from bigger boy
NONE of the above

Finally I tell the hubby...my car smells like poop and I can't figure out what it is. He searches for maybe 20 seconds and finds a sippy cup under the passenger side seat, opens it and almost throws up. According to him the cup had ice cube shaped curdled milk in it. I took his word for it and told him to just toss the cup. I'm pretty cheap but when it comes to things like that I'm willing to let go of a sippy cup.

Writing this blog makes me *blah* all over again. I'm not going to say I won't ever make that mistake again, but I will defiantly be more careful for quit awhile. Thinking about it, I've gone along time without that happening...good job to me!

Now I'm going to go get an air freshener for my car....*blah*

2 weeks

6 pounds 12 ounces so our little peanut is gaining weight but still has awhile before he reaches Carson's birth weight.

He is still in Newborn everything and most of it hangs off of him. Thank goodness our nephew Ethan was a little peanut also or we wouldn't have had anything for Caleb to wear.

He is a champion sleeper...for now. I'm so scared to make this statement because we had a very hard first 6 weeks with Carson. Hopefully Caleb will continue to have 3-4 hour stretches of sleep at night and keep Mom and Dad pretty much well rested.

Carson loves his little brother...again - for now. We haven't had any jealousy issues yet but I'm sure they will arise soon enough.

We are in love and are enjoying every second with our new little man.

October 30 Surprise Here Comes Caleb!

The details of Mr. Caleb's birthday....

As many of you know Caleb's due date was not until the middle of November so he defiantly decided to surprise us and come early. Sunday morning October the 30th I woke up and knew that Mr. Caleb was going to make his arrival soon...how soon? I wasn't sure but I had a good feeling that it would be that day. My water was leaking just a tiny bit to where you question if you are really leaking or peeing on yourself. I told Garet what was going on and he did what any other guy would do...shrugged his shoulders and asked what that meant. I told him might want to get some clothes together for the hospital but I didn't want to just sit around because who knew how long we would be waiting for something to happen. I was convinced that contractions would hit me first because the odds of your water breaking is very very slim.

So we continued to get ready for church and headed out thinking we would go to church get some food afterwards and re-evaluate the situation afterwards. Church was great - we worshipped, listened to a great sermon, and I was still feeling fine. When the service was over and everyone was leaving I looked at Garet and told him I was nervous to stand up. He replied that we couldn't stay there all day so I proceeded to stand up. Thats when the flood started down my pants and on to the floor. I walked quickly to the car and Garet got Carson out of Sunday school. While all of this is happening still no contractions but I knew we needed to get to the hospital pronto.

We arrived at the hospital after a quick stop at Whataburger (I knew they wouldn't let me eat once we got there) priorities people! Passed off Carson to my parents and headed for labor and delivery. This entire time my water is leaking...now there is no question to peeing...it's a river. Sorry if that's TMI but for future mothers you WILL know if your water breaks there is NO question. Once checked they measured me at 4 cms and then started me on pitocin to get regular contractions going. I barred those as long as I wasn't too uncomfortable then informed my nurse I was ready for the epidural. I'm not too proud and once I got it they turned the pitocin up considerably and I was complete (10 cm) in an hour. I pushed 3 times and Mr. Caleb arrived. 6 lbs 3 oz 20 inches long. Perfection in my eyes :)

We spent a short 24 hours in the hospital. Caleb checked out fine and I was feeling fine also. Overall the entire experience was great and relatively easy. I highly recommend Centennial Hospital in Frisco. They did a great job and catered to our every need.

Introducing Caleb Michael Black

Silly boys

These boys crack me up! We go to a few shops and they chase each other, feed each other gold fish, occasionally make sure Graham is still sleeping (Lindsay's 3 week old), and fuss at each other a little bit.

Carson asks almost every morning if we will get to see Dylan, and Dylan's little face lights up when he sees Carson. True buddies and it will be fun hearing them tell people when they are teenagers that they have been friends their entire lives.

I'm sure Graham and our next little one will be the same way and Lindsay and I are going to be super skinny chasing all of these boys around.

M.I.A

My blogging has defiantly been missing in action and I'm afraid it will just get worse from now until both boys are teenagers. Ok maybe not that long but any upcoming posts will for sure be short and sweet. Some people are made to blog with these posts that are novels, full of pictures and clever sayings...not this momma. I like to think that I blog so one day I can look back and see what was actually happening at that time and to keep anyone that reads my blog informed on what's going on in our little lives.

I saw this picture on my cousins' Facebook and couldn't help laughing out loud...so I have to share.

This will be me in 4 weeks or less. Tomorrow (Friday) I will be 36 weeks pregnant and I feel like a house. Although I feel that way I do not look like a house. Most would read that and say "don't break your arm patting yourself on the back" but you are mistaken. I am not small because of anything I have been doing like working out or having an amazing diet. I am small because my fluid is on the lower side, and baby black is on the smaller side. Both issues have been studied extensively by my doctor and are fine so no worries either. Carson was born 8 lbs 11 ozs and I have no problem having a 6-7 lb baby.

So thats that for now. I know you will be on pins and needles until my next post :)

Sneak Peek

Yes, I am finally getting things done for the new baby. I figured I better get my butt in gear since Baby Black will be arriving in about 6 weeks! The nursery is no where near complete, but I'm so excited about the bedding that I HAVE to show it off.

If you love it and just have to have it for your kid?? So sorry...the fabrics were dis-continued. The company had just enough left to make my set and they were done-ski with it. This is all that I'm letting you see

If you do love it as much as I do, I bet you can find something similar or just as wonderful at www.kidsvillagebaby.com My sister-in-law Shelby works there and she did all of the ordering for us through a custom bedding company named Luv Stuff Baby. If you are looking for anything baby I recommend going to their website because they have super cute baby gear and gifts.

 HOPEFULLY here in the next few days (probably weeks) I will be posting more sneak peeks of other parts of the room if I can get my work horse...I mean husband to hang and move things.

Home Stuff

Slowely but surely we are getting our home together. For the most part rooms are set up and things are where they are supposed to be. Now it's decorating time. Luckly the downstairs was freshly painted before we moved in and with very nice colors, not just the generic builder's tan. Now the upstairs is a different story...so until we get the painter scheduled you will not get to see any pictures of Carson's room or new babies room or the grand reveal of Garet's man room.

For now this is a picture of the wall shelves we put up right next to the TV that is above the fireplace. The cords to the TV are still exposed so no full length picture yet. We bought the shelves at Loews at a decent price. I'm also one of those people that gets bored with decorations easily so the shelves will change with seasons and holidays.

Hopefully as we get more things done and up there will be more pictures.

School Time!

Carson started his first day of pre-school today. Technically it's a Parents Day Out program, but it's the most school like atmosphere he has ever been in. When Carson was born Garet and I were both working and we took Carson to an in-home daycare that we all loved so much. He loved his babysitter and his friends and we were very blessed to have Carson raised in that home for the first few years of his life, but now we are getting him in school mode.

His teacher said the first day went great except for nap time...haha! Considering he still sleeps in a crib and has a noise maker to keep out ANY distractions (trash truck, tv downstairs, anybody breathing loud :) we pretty much knew he wouldn't nap on his first day. Talk about one extreme to another...they want him to sleep on a nap mat with 9 other children in the same room. I know he won't be a bad napper forever, and he will adjust, but I will pray for his teachers every Tuesday and Thursday around noon.

Gosh it seems like yesterday I was taking him to the babysitters house for the first time and having major anxiety! Dropping him off at school today was a piece of cake compared to that day. He seems like such a grown up boy. I can't even get a little sad about him not being a baby anymore because next little boy will fill that void very soon...then I will be saying ahhh I can't wait until they are both pre-schoolers :)

2 years and a bit more

I can't believe Carson is already 2 years old. Yes he has been 2 for awhile, but it's just now starting to sync in because we have been going a million miles per hour.

So here are a few things that Carson is doing a the mature age of 2...
- He will repeat anything that anybody says. When I say anything I mean ANYTHING! We are defiantly watching what we are saying these days and giving everyone else the heads up. Some don't believe and learn very quickly :)
- He is attempting sentences like "Where dada go?" "What's that?" "I do it."
- He can identify all of his letters (credit to Daddy) and can count to 15 by himself.
- He runs, jumps on anything, hugs, kisses, high fives, bump or pound (fist thing), and dances.
- Toys he is into are...books, cars or trucks, hitting anything with the plastic golf club (That includes poor Rogue sometimes. But he always tells her sorry), kicking or throwing any ball, and most recently coloring. He can't get enough of his crayons and color book.

- Food: chicken nuggets, french fries, pizza, mixed veggies peas/carrots/corn combo, Mexican rice and Charo beans, and anything snack able (crackers, cookies, chips) I think he could live on snack foods if we let him.

- Drink: Milk 1%, 100% juice usually deluded with water, and water. If he tries anything other than those 3 he acts like you are giving him acid and chokes and causes a scene.

- Most recent stats at the doctor: 32 lbs 37 1/2 inches...so a big boy but his BMI is 16 so very proportional.

He is no longer a baby (even though he will always be my baby) he is a little boy. We have so much fun with him and he catches us by surprise almost on a daily basis. He defiantly has his moments when he will test his limits or have his tantrum but he usually gets over it quickly. We couldn't be happier with our little man and can't wait to see how he is going to be with his little brother.

Carson Anthony Black 2011

Shots

Shots, shots, shots....EVERYBODY!!!

I wish I were talking about alcoholic beverages. It has been a full year since Carson last received shots and thank goodness it will be another year before he goes again.

He got 3 shots this morning...2 in one leg and 1 in the other. He had no clue what was coming because I know he doesn't remember his last ones a year ago. These were much much harder for him (when I say him I really mean me) because he is much stronger and harder to hold down and he was so sad afterwards crying real tears and asking why he had get the boo boo's.

Afterwards he perked up considerably when he got a sucker and sticker, but I know the poor little guy is sore. As we sit on the couch he pulls his shorts up every once in awhile to show me his sore boo boo's. I sent my mom a video text of the poor pathetic baby showing his boo boo's and telling her what happened and she called me within 30 seconds making sure her grandson was ok. Then she reminded me that I was the worst shot receiver when I was little. When I got old enough to understand she would have to lie to me about where we were going and all of sudden show up at the doctors office. I would freak out at that point, but she knew if I were told any earlier she probably wouldn't be able to get me in the car.

As much I hate taking Carson to get his shots, I know I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if he caught something that a shot would prevent. I know giving and getting shots are pretty controversial these days, so before Carson was born I asked a good friend and retired ER nurse what her opinions were on shots and all of the research people were doing. She handed me a book and said read it and then we can discuss it. This book was about families of children that choose not to get shots and they caught those "rare", but not so rare anymore, diseases. After crying though out the entire book and finishing it I made up my mind that I would vaccinate my children. I know several people that choose not to vaccinate and that is their choice, but my choice is to not take the chances that Carson catches something that could be prevented.

Heck, I still hate getting poked and pricked, but if it is to make sure I am healthy and new baby is doing well I will grit my teeth and do it. I have given little man a dose of Tylenol to help with the soreness and potential fever from the shots and I'm sure today will be a couch day. This prego Momma doesn't mind that at all :)

So Sleepy!

The title of this blog is the reason I haven't blogged in awhile. I feel like I never get enough sleep at night. No I am not getting up several times a night to use the bathroom, or any other un-comfortableness I can think of. I wake up tired, I go about my day tired, and I go to bed tired. Sometimes I feel like I'm sleep walking. A few weeks ago I told Carson he was going to have to watch Mickey and play with his toys because mommy had to lay down. I was literally falling asleep sitting up so I laid on the couch and snoozed for about 45 mins. Of course Carson wasn't my perfect angel and he woke me up about every 5-10 minutes with driving cars on my legs, or throwing a ball at sleeping Momma, but after the 45 minute interrupted many times nap I could at least keep my eyes open and be alert.

The saddest thing of all is that here in 11 weeks the exhausted feeling will defiantly get worse with a newborn. I know my body will be a bit better because I won't be carrying a child in my stomach, but I'm not delusional, I remember how hard the first few weeks are of a babies life. Thank goodness we have some family and friends that are willing to come and help every once in awhile.

I remember being tired when I was carrying Carson, but I was also still working. I can't imagine carrying new baby, taking care of Carson, and dealing with hundreds of kindergarten - 5th graders in PE class on a daily basis. I have a whole new respect for teachers who can keep working throughout pregnancies and having toddlers. If I were still teaching I would need the entire weekend to sleep. 48 hours straight! With several cat naps during the school day - at lunch time, planning period, bus duty jk :)

Maybe some cooler weather will put some pep in my step...Haha probably not but here is hoping and wishing!

Hurley

I had to share the info because I love love love Hurley clothes for Carson. I went to Marshall's tonight (Friday of tax free weekend - brave soul!) and found long sleeve Hurley shirts for $10 a piece. Hurley is a good brand - washes well, wears well, and looks great. Of course I'm not going to buy it at full price but I am always finding quite a few things at Marshalls or TJ Maxx. My mother in law found some really nice Hurley shirts at Dillards recently on sale also. Here are two of the four I bought him tonight. The blue and the green one was so cool that I bought the same one but in red and gray. You just can't beat the price and quality and I am confident that the weather will get cooler some day and he will get to wear these great long sleeve shirts.

BTW - shopping on Friday of tax free weekend is the way to go. We breezed through the lines and everything wasn't picked over. It was a good think we didn't know that the deals started today or I don't think I would have been able to talk Garet into shopping tonight. Oh well it was successful! Happy tax free shopping to everyone!!

Cousins

We have babies running out of our ears! On Garet's families' side Carson is one of four cousins and the new baby will make 5. Now most people would say that's not that many...by the time the next one is born they will all be under the age of 3! I'm really contemplating whether or not we should video the up-coming holiday events because at the time we will probably be very frustrated, but a few years down the road we will think they are hilarious.

Here is a picture of the four Black family babies. Blake is the oldest born in January of 09, next is Carson July of 09' then the twinkies Ethan and Elynn born in April of 2010. I'm sure we will take another group picture with new baby included over Christmas time.

Then on my side of the family we have, or are going to have 2 boys and my sister has 2 girls. Oldest is Avery who I can't beleive is 6 and a half, going into the 1st grade, and drop dead gourgous. When I say we are going to have to beat guys off with a stick I'm not joking...her daddy, step daddy, and uncles will all own suitable sticks to keep the boys away. My sister's other daughter is sweet Dakota who just turned 1 in July and she is the energy of the group. She will have no problem keeping up with the boys because she is already riding four wheelers and climbing all over things.

This picture of the girls is on the lake! We love boating with both sides of the family and we are starting the kids early.

The reason why I decided to blog about all of Carson's cousins was because he adores all of them. Avery might be his first girl crush. He follows her everywhere and almost cops a feel on her hiney when giving good bye hugs. Blake and Carson are the closet in age and they are defiantly best buddies. They ask for each other all the time and their little faces light up when they see each other. Carson hasn't gotten too many chances to play with the twins but recently at the lake he loved that they were both moving more and defiantly rocked out to some Mickey mouse with them. The twins are two names that are always mentioned during prayer time too! Then Dakota is his littlest cousin friend but most active. Dakota and Carson find any trouble they can manage. They love climbing on toys, couches, anything they can get their legs on and they are four wheeling cruising buddies.

It will be interesting to add another cousin into the mix and have that baby establish a special bond with each and every cousin like Carson has.

We can officially say we are Home!

Our beautiful house that we love so much. We better love it because we are never leaving. Our children will grow up here and their children will visit us here and Garet and I will die here just like the old couple in the Notebook. Ok, I'm exaggerating just a bit but this is defiantly a 10 year at least house and we love it. We have 4 bedrooms - 5 if you count the playroom, 3 and 1/2 bathrooms, game room (Garet's playroom), and a large backyard with room for a pool someday.

Hopefully I can put up some pictures of the inside soon. Right now this place is a wreck. There is stuff everywhere and Carson is getting into EVERYTHING! The ultimate goal will be to have everything hung and put away before baby#2 gets here.

Speaking of baby#2...I had my first appointment with my new doctor here and everything looked good. Garet and I are very close on deciding a name and our original idea to keep it a secret will probably go out the window. We will see...another blog for another day.

The nightmare of selling our house

People always say that when you are trying to sell a house nothing goes right. Most of those people are exaggerating, but in our case that couldn't have been a more appropriate statement. Yes, we are very lucky that we sold our house in an economy like this and yes, it is finally finished and we are no longer home owners in Tomball, Texas. Here is just what happened within 24 hours of signing papers to close on the house....

While driving to Houston on Thursday afternoon we receive a call from our realtor that the family buying our house went for their final walk-through in the house and were very upset with the dust on the cabinets, ceiling fans, and window seals along with the carpet not being shampooed. We all commented well that's what happens when you aren't buying a brand new house and they are going to have to deal with it. Of course there is going to be some dust in places...we haven't lived in the house in 2 weeks and kept the AC running at 80 so the new people wouldn't suffocate when they were moving in. A few minutes later Garet received an e-mail from the buyers realtor stating that per contract the house needed to be professionally cleaned and the carpets professionally cleaned. Our next thought was No Way! We signed those contacts weeks ago and would have seen that or at least our realtor would have caught it. We try to get a hold of our realtor - phone is off. We arrive in Houston, get Carson to bed at Garet's parents and receive another e-mail. This one is a copy of the contract that states all of the professional cleaning mess and our signatures are on the bottom of the page. Well crap! It is now 10:30 at night and Garet and his mom decide to go and deep clean everything that night while I stay back with carson then figure out the carpet situation in the morning. 30 minutes after they had left I am getting ready to get in bed and call Garet to see how things are going. His first words into the phone were not hello it was "we don't have a house key, the door inside the garage was locked." He assumed he could enter the house with the garage door opener like he has everyday for the last 3 years. I crawl out of bed, and we decide to meet halfway to pass off house keys. At about 2:30 in the morning Garet crawls back in to bed and said that the house was dustless.

Next morning we have to wake up at 6:30 to get ready and drive all the way to the other side of Houston during rush-hour traffic to make a 8:30 closing time with the title company. The deal was we had to get the funds pushed through by 3:00 that afternoon or we would loose $750 in escro taxes for the next month. Hence the first possible closing time of the day. We had also decided that we were going to give the buyers $200 to get the carpet cleaned by a person their realtor knew and that was the quote given to us. We arrive early and start signing papers to sale the house. As we are signing Garet and I realize that it's now a bit past 8:30 and the buyers have yet to show up. Our realtor gets on his phone to check to see if they were caught in traffic, running late, any typical excuse. No answer. A few minutes later they call back....they weren't informed that closing was at 8:30 - they thought it was at 10:00! Holy cow what else could go wrong! We could both see our time ticking away and that $750 going down the drain. The lady in charge of our closing also made the comment that she had 9 closings that day and wasn't sure where she was going to fit them in. When she saw that I was on the verge of busting into tears she quickly told us not to worry and they would fit them in and get it done ASAP. At that point we were finished and both Garet and I were ready to bolt and not cater to these people anymore. During all the drama Garet's mother had gotten a hold of her carpet guy and he could clean the carpets for $50 cheaper and be at the house immediately. Finally some good news let's do it!

Like I said earlier yes, the buyers FINALLY showed up finished signing papers and the bank even pushed all of the funds by 3:00 pm so we did not loose the money. Too much drama for this Momma, not to mention we are not closing on the house in Murphy today, or tomorrow. Probably Wednesday or Thursday....that's another blog for another day. I think this baby is going to come out with a stress ulcer from all of the things Garet and I have had to deal with in the last month.

I can't wait to blog about our new house and my new nursery! It will be soon I have faith and I know I have said this a lot but....WE ARE NEVER MOVING AGAIN!

Picture speak 1,000 words....or more

I'm ready to be settled with my possessions, in my own home, and get ready for this baby that will be arriving in less than 4 months. We don't have ANYTHING done! I am about to start pulling out my hair. It would also be nice to get ANY type of job. This is just a few things on my HUGE list of things to be stressed about! Thank you for letting me vent :)

Carson turns 2!

We had a fun filled day of story time at the library, lunch with our favorite Mindi, a much needed nap, then finished up with an exciting trip to Chuck E Cheese! Oh the joys of turning 2. Of course I could say that he had the best day of his life but then I would be leaving out that he had a snotty nose all day, Was a bit bi-polar with Mindi's dog Griffin - giving face kisses one minute then freaking out when he would bark the next, and having a mental break down when it was time to leave Chuck E Cheese. Not to mention he is still awake in his bed semi whining when he was put down over an hour ago. Oh the after effects of icing and cake in a little boy's body.

Although he did have some rough spots today, the precious moments outweighed them drastically. This was our second time to go to story time so this time he participated with dancing and clapping. I was a very proud Momma. At Mindi's house the moment she pulled his birthday cup cake out his eyes lit up and she became his new favorite person in the world. I loved how he hugged her and called her by name and thanked her for lunch a cake. At CEC he rode the Mouse ride about 20 times and I have proof! Every time a kid rides it, it takes a picture. I will be making a collage of Carson and ChuckE to show him when he is a teenager. Then blowing out his candle and opening his presents followed by hugs and kisses for all of his aunts and uncles and cousins.

We love our little man so much and wouldn't change anything about him or his official 2nd birthday. Happy Birthday Carson!

Where has the time gone?

Almost 2 years ago I was looking at this precious little face.

Out of Shape

Yes I know that I'm pregnant and shouldn't be in the best physical shape of my life, but I have defiantly done a lot less working out this pregnancy than I did with Carson. I think I was still jogging a few times a week about six months into my last pregnancy. In the last five months I can't recall running at all. Hurrying to answer my phone across the room is about as close as it has gotten.

This lack of cardiovascular endurance came to mind when I decided this morning Carson and I were going to go feed the ducks down at my parents neighborhood lake. I thought very hard about driving my car the few blocks, but then gave myself a little pep talk reassuring myself that it would be good for all of us to get out and walk a bit. getting to the lake - mostly downhill was fine. Coming back was the problem. If you have ever been to my parents house there is a path that is kind of a short cut through all of the houses in the middle. After we fed the ducks I let Carson play on this little swing set and slide at the other end of this path. Walking back to my parents house on this path there are two monster hills that I was really starting to get worried about while breathing hard and leg muscles straining. I almost thought about making Carson get out of the stroller and walk himself to lighten the load. Of course we made it and I wasn't a horrible mother kicking my kid out the stroller, but my body is telling me I'm done for the day.

I mean come on y'all, I used to run miles with those hills included in my course several times in high school and college. I'm not delusional in thinking I should be able to do that now but I should be able to take a 30-45 minute walk with my son without feeling like my legs are going to give out from walking hills. I putting this on paper...or I guess on web. I will be back in good physical shape before the next summer after this baby is born. I'm not talking dropping all my baby weight...well that will happen too, but actual working out will occur after this next baby. I might even bust out an old winner's manual (college soccer work-out regime) to get some ideas. Everybody that reads this can remind me in Dec/Jan to get my butt going.

Home Sweet Home...almost

We have made it to Dallas!

It feels very nice to be here but the chaos is far from being over. We are here but everything else is still in Houston and will be until we close on our house hopefully in 3 weeks. I will be very happy when we can sit back, relax, and enjoy this whole process being over! By that time I will have a newborn, I will be sleep deprived, and chasing around a toddler all at the same time. Oh well at least my family will be just around the corner to help.

The job search will also be officially starting here in the next few weeks. If anyone has any connections doing ANYTHING let me know. Beggars can't be choosers...ok I'm not that desperate but I'm also not delusional in thinking a teaching job will just fall in my lap.

Everything has worked out, I know the job thing will also. God's plan and patience...

Storage Wars

After tonight our entire home will be in a 10 by 20 storage unit. Right now about 80% of our house is already in there. There is absolutely no furniture in our master, yes we have been camping for the last week. Don't feel too sorry for us we still have a mattress on the floor so we haven't been roughing it to much.

Back to the storage.... We are storing the house because we are making the official move to Dallas on Friday and do not have a place to live yet. My parents have graciously offered the upstairs of their house so that will be our temporary residence for the next 3 weeks.

Here is a picture of the storage before more really big stuff goes in there - washer, dryer, Carson's crib, and kitchen table and chairs. I'm sure you can use your imagination and squeeze all of that stuff in, I sure can't! I feel very sorry for Garet and friends when they have to move Everything from the unit to trailers and trucks here in three weeks when we get the house (God willing). This pregnant Momma will be delegating and telling those boys what to do! Haha ya right!! Hopefully I will be somewhere far away de-stressing and meditating about organizing all of that crap I mean priceless possessions somewhere in the new house.

Introducing Baby Boy Black #2

Another boy it is! Now that we FINALLY know what the baby is we can start planning. A million things started running through my mind once we got to sit down and marinate on the idea of having another boy.

#1 Once we get settled in the new house (God willing) I will get to pull out all of Carson's baby stuff and start cleaning, tossing, and uhhhahhhing over the really cute things I will get to use again. #2 Colors, themes, and furniture. We are pretty set on using a western theme with this next baby with rustic colors of browns, reds, and blues. Some people say "oh a Cowboy theme" If you mean Hardin Simmons Cowboy sure...If you mean Dallas Cowboy Garet would say "No!!" #3 Brothers - I love picturing Carson and new baby wrestling with eachother, throwing a ball back and forth,and Carson holding his little brothers hand across the street. When people would ask Garet and I what we wanted before we knew the gender of the baby we would both say girl. Our reasoning was we wanted one of each. One of Garet's best friends from college corrected Garet and told him "No man you want another boy! Imagine Carson and new little one getting to play football together. Carson would be the quarter back and new one would be the reciever and they would be the best duo." As insane football people of course his friend would think of that first, but he definatly had the right idea. Carson is going to have an automatic best friend come November. I know it won't always be candy and rainbows but these boys are going to have fun together and hopefully one day they can be a dynamtic duo in whatever they choose to do. Even if it's partner tuba players in the band...jk

Here are some ultrasound pictures from our last appointment. I tried to take pictures of the picture they print out and some came out better than others.

Baby's Profile

One foot with all 5 toes

And last...drum roll please...his boy equipment

Re-locating....

Wait did I read that right? Re-locating?? Yes it is true the Black family is moving. We have a contract to sale our house and we close on July 29. This is wonderful news considering I thought our new baby would be sleeping in our master bedroom closet. Good bye 12250 Camden meadow Tomball Texas! As a matter of fact good bye Houston Texas...Yes we are moving to Dallas!

Long story short Garet interviewed for a job in Dallas just a few weeks ago and found out within the week that the job was his for the taking. The day before he got offered the job we got an offer on the house. Talk about things all happening at the right time. We said yes to both and started packing and moving into a storage unit. Garet starts his job July 11 so we will be there way sooner than later.

Now I don't want to jinx anything because it seems like way to many things are going the way we want them to go, but we might already have a house waiting for us in August! No more details because like I said I don't want all of this to be too good to be true.

Keep your fingers crossed and in your prayers mainly for our sanity and that everything will go as smoothly as it already has.

Changes coming very soon

I posted a week ago about all of the potential changes coming soon. Boy I didn't think they would happen this soon. Something new changes on a daily basis so until things settle down I'm not giving any information. Keep your eye on a blog chalked full of goodies including (hopefully) the gender of our Baby Black #2!! Knowing my luck we will have a modest little thing with it's legs crossed tightly closed.

Something else I am super duper pumped about is this weekend! My bestest friends from HSU are coming in town to go to our good friend and fellow soccer girl's wedding to one of Garet's football buddies from college. Let's just say it's going to be a HUGE Hardin-Simmons reunion with dear friends that we hardly ever get to see. Trust me we take advantage of our time together so it is a guarantee to be a great weekend. Hopefully being one of the only sober people at the party I will get to take a lot of good pictures and actually remember all of the funny things that will happen.

Obstacles

Garet and I feel exactly like this guy trying to walk across the rope. We can't get anything accomplished because there are too many dang birds in the way. Now don't get me wrong, the birds aren't bad obstacles, they are potentially very good obstacles. The problem is everything is in limbo so we are sitting twiddling our thumbs for the time being.

On a happier note Garet got to feel the little bambino thumping away in my belly last night. I think he/she was soooo excited about the Mavs winning that it just went crazy with everyone else in the city of Dallas! Even though we stayed at my parents house to watch the game, it felt good to be here for the big win.

Hopefully here in the next few weeks some decisions will be made and I will get to share them with everybody. Either way I know God will provide and whatever happens will be the right thing for our family. I have to keep telling myself that to convince myself that I can stand the waiting. Maybe God is already at work teaching me patience before this next baby is born :)

Boy or Girl??

I had a doctors appointment yesterday and I am right at 16 weeks so I was hoping my doctor would say what the heck let's have a look. Well not so lucky...she had me schedule my full anatomy scan, which is the in depth ultrasound where they check the organs and arms and legs and measure the head, and that I could wait until then. Lady your killing me here! I don't know if it's just the second child thing but I have been dying to know the gender since day 2 of knowing I was pregnant.

Oh well a few weeks it is. What do you think I think it is?? I'm thinking another boy, but my subconscious says girl. Until then here is a cute picture of Carson playing in his whale pool in the backyard...

Party all night long!

This weekend I attended my dear friend Marissa's bachelorette party in Austin. I have been planning on making the trip to Austin way before we knew we were expecting the next bambino. I honestly never thought twice about not going on the trip. A few days before the long awaited weekend everyone started to question why I was going or that I was going to not have fun at all because I couldn't drink (That I would the only sober girl of the group). I really wanted to tell those certain people to keep their opinions to themselves but it also made me start to worry.

Now I can say all of those negative Nelly people were WRONG! I am so glad that I went because it was one of the most fun weekends I have had in a long time. First of all, it's very rare that my college soccer girls all get together, so just being around them is always a good time. We danced and sang, talked about so many inappropriate things, and reminisced on the old days. Yes most of them got sloshed as they should have, but that never stopped me from having fun and I didn't even have to take care of anyone.

With all of that said, having kids or even carrying a child (what Kala told every bar-tender we encountered) is no excuse to not go bar hoping or clubbing with the girls for special occasions. I am so excited for the wedding in 3 weeks!

I have to give a little shout out to Garet for allowing me to go on this weekend trip. Him and Carson had a boys weekend with a little help from Grammy. I came home to a very happy little boy that defiantly showed me he missed me with hugs and kisses. With tomorrow being my first official day of summer I was also very happy to see that Carson was exhausted from his busy weekend. Hopefully he will let Momma sleep in a little in the morning.

Summer Time = Blog Time

Today is the last day of school! wooo whooo!! OK technically tomorrow is the last day of school but today is the last day with the kids. Trust me people a day with kids and a day without kids in the building are completely different. Today is the celebration and tomorrow is the clean up in piece and quiet. After that my summer with my little Carson man begins.

I'll do a quick catch up since I haven't blogged since Christmas time. Carson is about to turn 2 years old in July and Baby Black #2 is going to make his/her appearance in November. No we don't know what it is yet...hopeful to find out here in a few weeks.

Our house is STILL on the market...if you need a house in the Houston area PLEASE come buy it!! I haven't started panicking yet, but I will soon if we have no where to put Baby Black #2.

That's it for now...
Happy last day of school to all you teachers out there and to the working world I'm sorry because I know how much you hate hearing about our summer break.