A family of five.

Apparently, Christian found my phone and took some candid photos.  I wasn't aware of this incriminating evidence until just the other day as I flipped through my pics. 

This has been me lately:

And while I am being me lately, this is Taylor Rose lately:

Yes, she gets into EVERYTHING!  It helps to just lay on her floor, close her door, and let her do her thing while I catch a few Z's.

Why have I been sleeping so much?

Because of this:

(How can anyone say that this isn't a baby at 11 1/2 weeks?  It is definitely a LIFE... a sweet baby.)

Yes. 

Its true.

Yes, it was a HUGE surprise.

I was always one of those people that didn't believe in accidental pregnancies. I was that annoying person that would cleverly say "It takes two to tango."  I never took into consideration that it only takes one to do the Roger Rabbit (or in Ryan's case its the Lawnmower, his signature dance move... his only dance move).  I thought we all know how it happens, if you are taking the right precautions then there should be no surprises.  Right?  Well, I now disagree with myself.  I don't take any oral contraceptives because I fully believe they do more harm than good.  It seems like they are always being recalled because of some very dangerous side effects.  It just doesn't seem good to mess around with what our bodies are made to do.  Plus, they mess with hormones and weight, blah, blah, blah.  So... we practice other safety measures.  Unbeknownst to my knowledge, these practices we use were on some sort of a sabbatical.  (Though, Ryan was surely in on this.)  After a few weeks, I felt different and couldn't shake that feeling of "maybe".  So, I took a test to rule out the possibility since I had a few on hand from Tay.  I fully expected it to say "Not Pregnant" and then I could blame my weirdness on that-time-of-the-month rearing its ugly head.  Instead, my little blue and white stick flashed a huge "Sucker!  You are soooo pregnant!".  I cried.  I denied.  I thought about how I wasn't ready just yet and that Tay is still a baby, herself.  I called Ryan and got mad.  He apologized. 

Now, I am okay with it.  Since we didn't plan this one, I won't ever think to myself "maybe we should have tried sooner so the kids would be closer in age" or "maybe we should have waited a bit longer".  This time it happened just as it was supposed to.  God said "Let her be pregnant!" and BOOM, so it was.  We weren't even sure if we were going to have more than two babies.  Decision decided!

I am now close to entering my 2nd trimester and am 11 weeks.  This little person's EDA is April 12. 

**Weird thing about that date... While at my dad's about 3 months ago, we were all discussing birthdays and how we had at least one in almost every month.  April was one of the 2 months that we were missing a birthday in our immediate family. 

Meanwhile, Taylor Rose is totally taking advantage of my vulnerability:

This is her getting in the candy drawer.  I had put the kitchen stool on top of the counter to keep her out.  She hauled the bathroom stool all the way to the kitchen on a serious mission.  I figured she deserved a piece of candy after that.  (P.S. She will not leave her panties on.  I do NOT know why.)

 She found Christian's markers and colored all over my white couch.  Twice.

 And the carpet.  Twice.

Happens once shame on you, happens twice shame on me - right?  Well, I did take all the markers away and hide them.  But she is smart and must have known what I was going to do before I even did.  I think she took a few markers and made a secret stash so she could color whenever I wasn't looking.  The second day was so bad that I wasn't even amused enough to take pictures.  The whole breakfast area was black with marker.  The walls had scribbles all over them.  The table behind the couch, the kids' desks, the back of the couch, the pillows, the back door, the sides of the couch... everywhere.  Christian and I were sitting on the couch watching a movie.  I thought she was playing quietly behind us.  Again, she was smart and knew to not come into my view.  Neither one of us saw her in the 3 minutes it took her to destroy everything. 

And now we're having another one. 

A Night at the Hospital

We all went down to the neighbors' house for their daughter's 8th birthday party.  Ryan and I were sitting on the back porch while Christian and Taylor Rose played with the kids.  A man sitting outside slightly waved his arm at me and said "Uuuhh.." while pointing at Christian.  I looked to see Christian bent over, holding his face, and a small chihuahua under him.  I ran over and noticed red... everything was red.  Blood was everywhere.  His entire shirt and hands were covered.  I couldn't even tell where it was coming from.  When he moved his hands, I saw his lip - it was split right down the middle.  I grabbed him in my arms, got the owner's attention, and went inside to see how bad it really was.  We ended up taking him to the E.R. because it looked pretty deep.  It takes a lot to get me to go to the E.R.  I am not a fan.  I am very glad we went, though. 

He got 4 dissolvable stitches in his lip.  The cleaned up his eye where the dogs top teeth had scraped. 

As we sat there and discussed everything, we both realized how angry we were at the man who just sat there and said "uuuuhh".  He never once got up to help.  Never tried to see if Christian was okay (he was closest to him).  He didn't even get up from his seat during the whole ordeal.  What a coward.  He is also a neighbor, so Ryan makes is a point to give him the evil eye every time he drives by his house. 

The dog's owners were very nice about the whole thing.  Their dog isn't a mean dog.  It was overwhelmed by the party, understandably.  They asked that we give them our hospital bill.  I feel bad about doing that, but we will... that $400 was not in our budget.

His shirt was so covered in blood that we had to take it off.

 They put numbing medicine on a cotton ball and taped it to his lip.

 The stitches were the worst part.  They wrapped him up like a burrito in a sheet and held him down.  I layed on his legs.  I kept saying "Its okay, baby.  I am right here."  He said "Mama, I want you.  Please."  Then he said in his most polite voice, "Anyone, can you please get off of me?". 

He did get a huge popsicle afterwards.  (I highly recommend the Mansfield hospital!)

 The finished work.  It looks awful here. 

The stitches have since fallen out and he is completely healed.  His scar is not even noticeable.  I can not believe how well he healed all on his own.

Rangers Day with the Hughes Clan

My dad got us all tickets for a family day at the ballpark.  We all had a REALLY good time, despite playing slip n' slide with our sweat in our seats the whole time.

Just the fam

 The fam and their significant others (which is everyone).  This is what Sunday dinner looks like.

 I didn't know how to position myself with my high heels on.  I should have moved to the end!

 Just the girls

 Just the boys (it took a few tries to get a normal picture of them!)

 They always start cutting up.  Always.  Shane is usually the culprit.

How to Catch a Lizard

Step 1:  Grab an accomplice

Step 2:  Gather a Nerf gun and grocery bag

Step 3:  Aim, shoot, and try to catch

 If that fails, switch positions with your partner.

Cheeser

Taylor Rose is such a cheeser.  She is such a goofy little girl.  I sure love her smile!

 Here she is very excited because she spotted SHOES in my dad's magazine. She LOOOVES shoes!

Summer Bash for CK!

CK's party turned out perfect!  We invited our whole street, the street behind us, and both street perpendicular to us.  Of course, we invited friends and family, too.  I was so happy that some new neighbors came to join in the fun.  Christian made a few new friends out of the party.

We put this banner all over our neighborhood and in friend's mailboxes:

(Ignore the two mustaches.  They are blurring out personal info.)

*disclaimer - a lot of the kids were in their underwear to sub for swimsuits

We had face painting

 The t-shirt decorating station

 Ryan made some large pitching games, but they ended up being impossible to score!

 Even with 100% concentration, the ball just wouldn't go through the little hole.

 Fun with the bubble machine

 Christian's sisters "sharing" the kickboard.  Haha!

 I love this!

 Brailyn

 All the babies were so cute playing together! 

 Sky and Brailyn had a blast on the trampoline

 What fun!

 Mr. Mike got bombarded with water balloons.  Apparently, he was the only adult outside when they decided to throw them.  I guess he was the easiest target.  I am glad he is such a good sport!