Yup.....

Well, yes it's true.....Donnie & Nolan are going to have a new sibling soon. :) I am pregnant! I know the suspense is killing some of you, so I'm not holding out any longer, I might burst at the seams if I don't say it soon!

At first, I was hesitant to even post this because I didn't want it to come across as being ungrateful or selfish, but initially when we first found out I really wasn't that excited I was pregnant again, so quick. A little shocked, a lot scared, and a whole ball of emotions rolled up into one. Therefore, making it a little hard to put all my feeling and emotions into words and post it. Kwim? Of course, after the initial shock and surprise has set in (because we weren't "trying" per say, but I'm not going to explain our whole birth control method...TMI, just know it DIDN'T work, obviously!) I'm slowly warming up to the idea of 3 children. And 3 car seats. And 3 bedrooms for the kids. And a minivan not doubt. And 3 children UNDER the age of 4. And 3. And 3. And 3. And just the pure insanity of the next few years of my life! But, with that said I am getting more and more excited, can't you tell?

Some worry and doubt and guilt has set in most definitely. I'm not so much worried about Donnie (the more demanding of the two) and this new baby who will soon be joining our family, but I'm really worried about Nolan (easy going Nolan). I don't feel that Nolan will even have a chance. Major guilt has set in about adding a new addition to our family so soon, when Nolan will only be 20 months old. He's one of those kids who, thus far, hasn't really demanded our attention (*ahem* unlike another little boy in our house:) maybe this will change with age though...?. His easygoing personality could be easily taken advantage of by us. Will he simply be swept under the rug while I'm tending to new born? Yes, most likely. Will he be slighted with our attention and love? Not love, but attention most likely. Will he have the middle child syndrome? Ummm, not sure about this one, as I only have one other sibling. Does my little Roley Noly even have a chance? Those of you that have 3 children, or nannied 3 children close in age, or are one of three or more in your own family.... tell me you thoughts, your opinions, your experiences, I'm very curious to know... It might put my mind at ease.

I know this post is all over the place with feelings & emotions & concerns...sorry! At any rate that is our news!! I am slowly getting more excited each day thinking about expanding our family again. A little nervous as well. But, we know we have been blessed to get pregnant with a healthy child again (which is in our prayers each and every night, as that is ALL that matters to us.) We are grateful!

God works in mysterious ways....

A little baffled, a little scared, lots of strange feelings going on today.... Not really ready to explain yet, just still working it through in my head.

Bummer of a day :(

SO, it's Nolan's BIG DAY, his first birthday and ...... nothing. That's right nothing for him, but a double ear infection! Poor baby. :( He's in bed snoozing for the night. No cake. No ice cream. No presents. No candle blown out. Nothing, nada. He was just too sleepy to even care. :( I think it's harder on me than him. We'll try this whole thing again tomorrow, I'll just pretend in the pictures it was his real birthDAY!

Mixed emotions...almost the big day!

A year ago today, I was crying in Dr. Farhat's office, begging him to induce me. Nolan's due date was actually today, May 6, 2008, but Nolan obviously was still just chillin' out in the oven wanting to bake a little longer (fat little terd)! Anywho, Dr. Farhat said we could induce because Nolan was gonna be a decent size baby... about 8.5 he anticipated, and once again like always Geraldo (I mean Dr. Farhat) was right. Originally he was going to let me go a week past my due date, then induce (I can't imagine Nolan being any bigger)... man am I glad I whined nice & LOUD in his office. :) Thus, Nolan Jeffrey Huff would make his grand entrance on May 7, 2008!

So, I'm having all these weird emotions with Nolan's First Birthday:

• Sad, very sad this year has gone by in such a blink of an eye... this second time around everything has whizzed by...
• he's already had his first smile, rolled over, sat up on his own, crawled, taken his first step, blown his first kiss, said his first word (Ma' ma'), all those firsts are gone... & it makes me sad, teary eyed sad ;(
• missing that new baby smell, that sweet aroma of a brand new baby's skin. Ahhh... there's nothing in the world like that smell.
• enjoying all that Nolan has brought to our family.... his laid back demeanor, his happy go-lucky personality, his silly little laugh, his growling like a T-Rex (courtesy of Donnie), the way he scrunches up his nose and makes this weird little face, his love of food, his stumpy legs... he needs those to hold his roley little body though, right ;), just his roley little self makes me smile!
• the great little friendship and bond him and his brother have, I never would have imagined how much I would love having boys until I saw these two together. I'm absolutely enamored with them.
• wondering if this will be the last first birthday that we celebrate around here.... we're still in the "I don't know, maybe, stage" ??
• loving the fact he's becoming so very independent, remember I really start liking my children after about the first year of their life (even though I will miss those milestones)...not a fan of the baby stage, which is the whole first year, imo.
• anxious for all the new big boy stuff he's gonna be able to do this summer.

Everything is just going waaaaaaaay to fast, I need to stop time somehow and savor and cherish and live all those precious moments, smells, and firsts again .... *Ahhhh* sigh. Who knew a first birthday could be SO traumatic on a mother.?

Tid bits about the boys...

Nolan:
(Fat feet)

* Is walking all around! He started walking a few weeks ago, the real shaky walk where they look like their gonna plop over any minute, but he's officially walking around now, fairly smooth. :) So, I figured it was time I start putting some shoes on the boy, I went to buy him new shoes yesterday, which I wasn't thinking that I'd have to do because Donnie has so many hand-me down items I thought I'd be good to go in the shoe dept. Well, a few days ago I went to put some tennis shoes on Nolan that Donnie had and were practically like brand new. I tried to put Nolan's foot into these shoes and I was totally cracking up trying to do it.... Nolan's feet are like little balls, like a fist balled up that won't open, except his feet are flattened out not balled up, they're just SO fat that they look like little balled up fists!! I was pushing and shoving and nothing. nothing. Nolan's foot was just NOT going into those shoes. So, I figured maybe I should go to a shoe store have him measured and buy the poor little guy some shoes that actually fit. JCPenny's here we come! Yeah pathetic, it's about the only shoe store in town that has baby shoes and can measure his feet. He did get a new pair of New Balance tennis shoes... 5 wide to be exact... and they were on sale! Yay, gotta love sales! Oh, did I mention I didn't have an option, the only tennis shoes they had in a wide were the New Balances. I think my next trip to buy shoes is going to be at an outlet that has Stride Rites or some type of shoe I can buy in wides. Grrreat my options are going to be endless! Not only do I have to search to find "cute" boy shoes, but now I have to find Nolan wides, fun fun.

Donnie:
(Curious)

* Is so curious about animals... everything, he asks questions about everything pertaining to animals. Today, we were watching Go Diego, Go and of course Diego is an animal rescuer, so the questions are endless after we watch him. A sea turtle was today's topic of discussion for Donnie. He learned that turtles lay eggs and the babies hatch from the eggs. Along with dinosaurs and birds... he always asks about their eggs.? And their Mommas...and where their Mommas are... Not sure what that's all about? Anyways, today he says to me...

D : Turtles lay eggs Mom?
M: Yes (with a look of you already know that).
D: Where do they lay eggs?
M: What?
D: Do they pee them out?
M: Ummm....
D: Do they pee them out of their butts?
M: Ummm....?? I don't know honey, I'll have to find out. (Seriously, that's what I said....what the hell? Do turtle have female parts? Where do the eggs come out of? I might have to google that tonight! hahhaha!)

I don't know where he comes up with these things... so inquisitive.

Candy, Church, Optimas Prime, & the Med Clinic....

*Disclaimer*

We really do love our boys' equally, but Donnie and I were the only ones "dressed" for Church in the morning..... Nolly was still snoozin' at this point ;(

Our Easter was really, really nice..... low key, exactly what I was hoping for and needed. We, well me, Donnie, and Sheri, (a friend of mine from work who spent Easter with us) headed to Church in the morning....minus Don and Nolan. As Nolan had to take a trip to the Med Clinic in the morning (nothing serious). But, albeit Donnie and I did the solo thing in the morning. We got home, took NO naps (man was I paying for that later in the day), and had my family over for Easter Dinner. FA-BU-LO-SO, I think I might have finally mastered the cheesy potatoes dish!! Definitely, the highlight of Donnie's day was getting his little gift from the Easter Bunny... Optimas Prime, the Transformer...WOW! did that thing MAKE HIS DAY! Nolan was just having a good ol' time watching his big brother run around the house like a wild man (with Optimas Prime in hand of course), playing with his aunts, cousins, and grandparents, and swinging on the swing set (insert thumb in mouth and that boys' as happy as a clam!). He's our little 'thumb sucker', the left one to be exact....awwww, precious baby.

**Don't I look extra happy in these pics....? Because, not only was it Easter, but I had my last class on Saturday.... paper turned in, presentation completed, and boy did I feel like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders!! Woo-Hoooo!! I sang the 'Alleluia's' a little extra loud in Church! ;)**

Chaotic

I promise I'm still here.... AND I have a ton of pics. from our Spring Break to South Carolina. But, that would involve a spare minute for me to work on something other than homework. Unfortunately, my Master's course has completely and utterly consumed my life since I've been back! Literally, I've gotten off of work @4pm., made dinner to be ready at 6pm. when Don gets home, and then off to work on my Annotated Bibliography (I had never heard of this before my class either, but I may be just a complete nimrod? LOL!) until Ohhhh, about 11pm., and yesterday I never even left school until 7:30 because I HAD to finish my homework! Grrrr! I'm SO not trying to complain about my life, oh, hell who am I kiddin' yeah I totally am, but I really have only had time to sleep since I've been home from vacation (and not much of that either)! .... No communicating with friends or family on the phone or via-emails, basically only giving my hubby a kiss goodnight before bed, and trying to squeeze in some decent quality time w/ the boys for a whole hour after work (yeah, I've felt a LOT of horrible "Bad Mom" guilt this week)....this class totally kicked my A$$! I'm still not quite sure how I'm going to complete my Fall class, the "Action Research Paper Class" aka..... my Thesis Paper?? Hmmmm? I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!

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Still on my TO DO LIST, before Sunday -Easter:

• Grocery shop for eggs, cheesy potato ingredients, and other misc. essentials for the Easter Dinner I'm hosting at our house & prepare for the Egg Hunt!
• Grab two navy Polo's for the boys to wear to Church on Sunday
• Fix Easter baskets
• Oh...Duh! Dye Eggs!

** All the while I still have class on Sat. from 8:30-5pm., (thankfully, my last class....ahhhhh *sigh* of relief)... rush, rush, rush, story of my life lately!**