Monday, December 31, 2012

Confession Number 104: It's A Boy!!

We had such a fun time the day after Christmas.  We had an appointment with the great Dr. Dietz mid morning and we were so hoping that baby would cooperate so we could break the gender news to both families in person.  Dustin's parents had gone with us and were with Cole in the waiting room while KJ went in to see Baby Charli on the screen herself.  I was so excited for her to get to make this memory!  My family waited in Enid as we were heading there straight from the appointment. 

It took a little while to get Charli to cooperate.  He was literally sitting criss cross applesauce in my tummy, but after some coaxing, just like his older brother, he was more than happy to share the goods!

 
The first words out of Kennedy's mouth were, "well, maybe the next one will be a girl!".  I'm not so sure about that, but we'll see!  Dustin's parents, were, of course, ecstatic and we had fun sharing the news with my family.  I called my oldest sister Cindy and told her, she then made a cake and later that night we shared the news with everyone.  Weezie did the honors of cutting into the cake.  This will make grandbaby #11 for her! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I have to say, Weezie called this one early on in my pregnancy.  She actually has predicted the gender of all of my kids within the first 8 weeks of each of the pregnancies.  Come to think of it, she always knows I'm pregnant before I tell her, too.  Creepy.  Mom intuition, I guess!
 
So, now we are on to room planning, name discussing and wondering how in the world we will manage two Cole's.  :)  I mean, really, he's a full time job as it is!!  But now he will have a buddy to play with!  Yay!!!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Confession Number 103: I Love This Time of Year


Merry Christmas Eve friends!  I have to say, for a few days, it seemed as if this holiday season was going to be characterized with a big, black cloud of grief, shock and fear.  In addition to the soul rocking shooting at Sandy Hook elementary, there were other various events around us that just brought us down.  Then, Saturday night, as my church, the bestest church ever, COS, celebrated Christmas Eve, Eve, Eve our pastor said no matter what has gone on throughout the year, this season gives us a chance to end the year in utter celebration.  What on earth could be better than to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ!!!  I have to say, it turned my bah humbug attitude right around.  No matter how dark our world may seem at times, the only thing that matters is that God sent us The Light to break the darkness!  May we celebrate His Light throughout the year!!

The last day or so with Kennedy has been very special.  She is so into everything this Christmas season, it is truly awesome to create so many memories and traditions with both of the kids.  This is our first Christmas morning to spend in our own home, and we are all so excited.  Now, if the weather will just cooperate for us to travel after the big day.  Speaking of the day after, stay tuned for a great big announcement!  In addition to all of the Christmas hoopla, we are hoping to find out the gender of Baby #3 on Wednesday.  We have big plans in sharing the news, so you won't want the miss the big reveal.  To think this time next year we will have another crawler in the house is a little overwhelming, but exciting.  Until then, here is a belly shot to get you by.  Oh!  And Merry Christmas!
 
Baby Number 3 at 17 weeks

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Confession Number 102: I Struggled

As a lot of you know, our family is about to grow by two more little feet.  Matthews Baby Number Three, or Charli, as Kennedy's calls it, is due sometime in May.  We are excited and nervous and a tinsy bit scared, but oh, so happy!  I mean who isn't happy when you aren't sick, your bump is tiny and cute and your boobs are getting bigger by the day!! 

 
Baby "Charli" at 13 weeks
 

We are enjoying day dreaming about boy and girl names, nursery themes and living through the occasional "how the heck are we going to do this?!?".  I have to say, it took me awhile to get there, though.  I struggled with the acceptance of this pregnancy...a lot.   After I did the whole psychoanalysis on myself (oh the joys of being a counselor), I realized my struggles were growing roots right in the evil of simple fear.  None of those fears, however, were that I didn't think we could handle three kids under the age of six.  Although, now that I've typed that......sheesh!!!!  I could control that.  I could change the way our family runs and incorporate a third little one with just a little hard work.  No, my fears were centered on things I couldn't control and those of you who know me personally know I'm kinda sorta, in a big way, a control freak.

 We hadn't necessarily planned this pregnancy.  That was another sticking point with me.  I thought God and I were on the same page.  I thought we understood where the other stood.  A third baby was going to be great.  In another year or so AND not due during testing at school.  Humph.  I guess God showed me just how much my opinion counted.  :)  Surprises are often the best gifts.  I was a surprise.  And I'm a dang good gift!!!  I came around to God's way of thinking rather quickly. 

The other fears?  It took me a little longer to get to the place where I knew I needed to be the entire time.  Two major fears plagued the first few weeks of this pregnancy.  The first was, this baby was conceived right around the time I broke my nose.  That means that very early on this baby could have been exposed to anesthesia, morphine, antibiotics and tons of other drugs.  The second fear is what I like to call the "Cole Factor".  To say that my pregnancy with Cole was complicated is an understatement.  If you are new to these parts, you can catch yourself up by reading the story here, here and here.  The story ends with a very healthy, almost 9 pound baby boy being born at 37 weeks, but getting there was a trial, to say the least.  During that ordeal, God covered me with a peace.  A peace of knowing He was in total control.  Not me.  I have to say, that peace returned about a month ago.  God has plans for us.  For this little life in my belly.  He says in Jeremiah 29:11,

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
 
So, here I am, living in God's plan and I'm hoping to find time to share it with you here more.  I don't have many stories or pictures from either of my other pregnancies, so I hope to change that this time around.  I hope you'll join me in reading and in praying for "Charli's" health.
 

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Confession Number 101: I'm 6 Months Late- Little Man Birthday Bash

Considering most of my readers are mothers, I know you will understand my tardiness.  I know you also have hundreds of pictures hanging out in virtual space that you have taken and done nothing with.  I know you do.  Don't you?  Once again, I turn to you to validate my motherly short comings.  Now, almost 6 months late, I finally find myself going through the pictures from Cole's Little Man 1st Birthday party.  It was an awesome party, if I do say so myself.  It is always fun to experience those 1 year ago discussions in the days leading up to my kid's birthdays.  I must say, with all of the drama in getting him here safe and sound, those days were even more special.  With no further delay, here is a sneak peak into my little man's special day!

From his entry into this big world, people have said Cole just looks like a little old man.  I think it is his hair.  He may have set a record for hair cuts in the first year at 8!!!  With that being a common statement about him, we decided to have a Little Man Birthday Bash, complete with mustaches and neckties!
This was our center table.  All of my printables came from Gretchen at Three Little Monkeys Studio.  She was wonderful to work with!  We served pulled pork and ribs from the Mayor of Grove himself, Marty Follis.  It was scrumptous, as usual!  We also had fresh fruits and veggies and chips and dip.
 
His cakes were adorable!  All of our cakes are done by Julie Smith at Tasty Creations by Julie.  She is spectacular! 
 

It was so much fun to put together Cole's first year in photos.  Bless him, he truly is a second child.  I just don't have the mass quantity of pictures of him that I do when KJ was this age.  I must say, the garland was one of my favorite parts of his party!  And when you are born in mid-March you will pretty much always celebrate your birthday with March Madness in the background.  Luckily, I don't think he will mind!
He found his favorite present pretty early.
 
Sadly, that little orange football recently died at the teeth of Bella, our puppy.  Baaaad Bella......
 
 

He didn't really understand why everyone was singing at him.  Poor guy!
He got over it pretty quickly though!!
 
 
All done!!!
 
Happy Birthday, Little Man!
We love you!!

Friday, March 2, 2012

Disney World Day Two

Day Two in the World of Disney was a little crazy.  We had a semi-plan, but nothing concrete and that didn't really work in our favor.  Everyone was starting to get tired and cranky.  It took us most of this day to figure out that KJ couldn't walk everywhere Mommy and Daddy did without getting completely and totally worn out.  That was a smart parenting moment.  :) 

We started our day off with breakfast with some of the Disney Junior characters in Hollywood Studios.  Looking back through the pictures, this could be named "Character Day".  We got a lot of autographs and hugs!

 Here we are with Special Agent Oso.


Handy Manny also came around.  Cole wasn't quite sure what to think of all of the characters!

 One of Kennedy's absolute favorites, June from Little Einsteins.  She's a ballerina and loved KJ's shirt!  Jake from the Neverland Pirates was there, too, but I didn't get a great picture of him.  If you are thinking of a trip to DW, I highly recommend doing a character meal or two.  It is really the only way to prevent standing in line to see them for hours. 

Dustin had read that Hollywood Studios is where quite a few of the characters hang out, so after breakfast we stalked where we thought Minnie would be in a few minutes.  It paid off!  Kennedy was first in line!


I love this picture!  I think it is going in Kennedy's room.

We also had fun with Donald and Daisy before we left the park.

After watching a couple of shows in Hollywood Studios, we had lunch and headed back to our hotel for a little rest.  At this point Cole was refusing to sleep in the stroller, so our only chance at getting him to nap was in the room.  Once we got up we decided to end our night at Animal Kingdom.  We didn't even think about getting there after dark and not being able to see many (any) animals.


 This is where Dustin finally got smart and rented KJ a stroller.  It never even crossed my mind.  Whew!  What a lifesaver!! 

At Animal Kingdom we watched the Lion King show then waited in line for about 45 minutes to see the big guy. 
Cole wasn't too impressed.


I'm sure Mickey is used to it.  Cole warmed up to him a little bit.


It was such a fun day meeting new friends!  We all couldn't wait to see what Day Three had in store!

Monday, February 27, 2012

Disney World Day One

So, is that really true?  It's been almost six months since my last post??  Wow.  I guess the new face of this blog is going to be in keeping up to date with the biggest things going on around here.  One of the latest happenings of the Matthews family was a much needed family vacation to Disney World.  I had wanted to take Kennedy for a few months and right around Christmas we pulled the trigger and booked it.  We were there for three full days, so I'm going to break down the updates that way.  So, grandmas, this one is for you.......

Our day started off with a trip to Magic Kingdom to see Cinderella's Castle.  After wandering around a bit, we found a couple of fairy friends to meet.  Welcome Terrance and Vida, part of Tinkerbell's gang!

Terrance was asking her if she had enough fairy dust to fly back to Oklahoma.

 Vidia asked if her baby brother was annoying like Tinkerbell. She said no. What a good big sister!

Watching Mickey's Castle Party with the best seat in the house. Love this!

Cole wasn't quite sure what to think about Mickey's party...


The highlight of Day One was KJ's visit to the Bippity Boppity Boutique.  Here she received the "Royal Treatment".  She was very good at waiting patiently.....

 She finally got some one on one time with her Fairy Godmother in Training, Ursala.  Yes.  That is her real name. 

  Let me tell you a little something about Ursala.  She had been working in the Bippity Boppity Boutique for 25 years.  You read that right, TWENTY FIVE YEARS of doing little girl hair and nails.  She stood on her feet 8+ hours a day and was wonderful!  What a sweet, nice lady!  If you go sometime in the next 5 years, see if you can get Ms. Ursala.  She said her magic wand is going into retirement after that.  :)

Here she is doing KJ's makeup......


And hair.....
 
And finally the finished product!  Love you Ms. Ursala!!!!  The whole process was well over an hour.  Incredible transformation into Princess Aurora!


We capped off the night with a trip back to the Magic Kingdom for the Magical Light Parade and Fireworks Show.  Her reactions were priceless!  Just watching the smile on her face was enough to make this momma happy. 
That is Day One in a nutshell.  Days Two and Three to come........