14 Weeks

Here's a couple pictures taken by my professional photographer, Keaton, of me at 14 weeks pregnant. Once again not the greatest, but still I've got it documented with some sort of photo!! Once I get bigger (and not TOO big) I will have some professional photos done since this will be our last little baby...





I thought this one was sweet of Gavin "hugging" the baby. He's really excited!

Chocolate

This is what happens when I take a phone call!! A couple of days ago I was on the phone with my dentist's office. Gavin came up in the middle of it and asked if he could have part of his chocolate bunny from Easter. I told him to hang on because I was on the phone. Well, I got off the phone and then Joel was asking me what the doctor said and we started talking about that. I completely forgot that Gavin asked me for something....I looked over and that's what I found! It was so messy and funny that I just had to laugh, take a picture and throw him in the shower!!

Ten Years Ago Today

Ten years ago today I felt nervous, scared and excited. Ten years ago today I found out what it meant to love someone more than life. Ten years ago today I met my first born son. Ten years ago today I became a Mommy.

Over the last ten years I've spent countless hours talking with you, playing with you, watching you grow and learn and become who you are. I am so proud and amazed at the person you are. You are kind, loyal, compassionate, smart, funny, creative and so much more. I never knew I could love this much, this deeply. I also never knew that along with the immense joy of watching you grow, there would be so much sadness in knowing how much time has gone by and realizing how little time you have left as my little boy.

Happy 10th Birthday, Jacob. You'll never be a single digit again... I love you more than words can ever express, deeper than the oceans, bigger than the sky.

Do You Ever Feel Like

Do you ever feel like there is a HUGE rain cloud following you where ever you go? Or what about like you're finally reaching the summit of a gigantic mountain and then you slip, bounce a few times on the rocks and plummet to the bottom again? I am seriously having one of those kinds of weeks - and it's ONLY Wednesday!

It all started last Thursday when my tooth started to hurt. By Sunday, it was pretty uncomfortable and I was waking in the night and taking tylenol every 4 hours on the dot. Monday morning I went to the dentist and the news was NOT good. I needed atleast 1 root canal, possibly 2, and if it was only 1 root canal, then I needed 2 fillings. Oh, and there are other problems that we also need to address later. Bear in mind that I NEVER had a cavity in my life until I first got pregnant. If having dental work wasn't bad enough, I needed to go to an endodontist to do the root canal. Then it got worse...

I had to go into the consultation room to discuss the billing for ALL of these procedures... My out of pocket portion for the dentist is ONLY about $1000. They also let me know that the root canal at the endodontist would probably run about $1200, but hopefully I'd only have to pay about $400 of that cost. Did I mention that dentists and endodontists don't have payment plans and that all of these treatments need to be completed and paid for in the next few days? All I could think about is that $1400 is about what it would cost to buy the new flooring for the boy's bedrooms and the nursery or almost half of a pretty good vacation this summer or any number of more fun things we could spend our money on.

Well, I had the root canal yesterday. The good news is that the endodontist was very nice and good and what he did. I honestly didn't feel anything and my tooth is feeling much better. Then, today happened.

Today, after parking in the very last available parking spot at the school, when I backed out... I hit the metal railing with the front end of my car. STUPID. My blinker light is busted and there's a huge dent. The grill is messed up. Seriously, we were probably going to get a new car by the end of the year, but WHY???? Why today? Joel was obviously not thrilled about it. His exact words were, "I'm not going to get that fixed. Can you please do something that won't cost me money?" (In his defense, he just called to tell me that he wasn't mad about the car.)

So, tomorrow morning, bright and early I'm off to the dentist to get my crown and 2 more fillings (oh, and pay $1000) and HOPEFULLY I won't somehow fall off a mountain top on my way there.

**Just as a disclaimer, I KNOW that my problems could be WAY worse and that lots of other people in the world have much more serious issues going on. Oh, and yes, I know I am whining, but I just needed to vent!!

Baby Update

Isn't that just the sweetest profile! Seriously, the first thing I thought when I saw it was that it looks just like Gavin!

I went to have my 12 week screening ultrasound on Tuesday and honestly, I still kind of had this sense of fear going in. What if there was a little blob that hadn't grown without a heartbeat? It was a strange feeling, but I was so relieved when I saw a little face, hands and feet and especially a heartbeat. The heartbeat was good at 141 bpm and all of the fluid measurements for downs syndrome were well within the normal range. I'm still waiting on the blood work to confirm that we are super low risk, but I'm not really concerned.

We told the ultrasound tech that we had 3 boys and were anxious to know the gender of this baby. She told us that she and the other ultrasound techs had a non-scientific way to guess what the gender would be at 12 weeks. She said the actual doctor wouldn't have any part in this "guessing" but she would let us know what she thought if we wanted her to. The theory is, since all of the genitals are on the outside right now anyway, a little boy part will be pointing up and a girl will be pointing down. Of course we had to know what she thought, so, her best guess.....

It's probably a BOY!

I can't say that I'm surprised or disappointed, I just hope that all of our family and friends that are pulling for a girl won't be disappointed! We'll see if she's right in about 6 weeks!

Since I have never taken photos of my belly during my other pregnancies, I figured I'd better this time since this will be my last! It's a little blurry since it was taken by Keaton, but it will work. I've gained 7 pounds so far, so here's my little baby bump at 12 weeks.

Growing

On Tuesday when I went to get Gavin from preschool his teacher approached me and asked, "Are you um..... fine?" I was a little confused by the way she was asking but answered, "Yes, I think so. Shouldn't I be?"

She goes on to tell me a story about how they were discussing things that grow in circle time, plants, trees, butterflies, kids, etc. and Gavin chimed in with, "My mommy's belly is growing." She said that she told him that his mommy's belly was pretty small and she really didn't think that it was growing. Then he told her, "My mommy's belly is growing because she's growing a baby!"

So, I had to confirm that my sweet little child was telling the truth and we are indeed "growing" a baby.

Can't wait to see how this little one is growing on Tuesday!

More Acting

Since Jacob finished his play, the director asked if he would like to be involved in a special film project. He, of course, said yes and so the filming has begun and will last for the next 2 months.

Mr. Seabolt is working on getting his Masters of Fine Arts in Directing, so he has to produce an original film. It's a very unique opportunity for Jacob and gives him the chance to experience acting in a different way - improv as opposed to scripted and on film as opposed to live. We're excited for him and he is beyond excited for himself! The coolest thing about it is that this film will be entered into South by Southwest Film Festival, Austin Film Festival and several other Texas and out of state film festivals.

Who knows, maybe one day we will see "Jacob McCullough" in lights!!

Football Season!

Yes, it's football season here at our house. Keaton, our boy we thought least likely to want to play football, is playing flag football! His team is called the Wild Cheetahs and he is LOVING it!

The games are WAAAAYYYYY too early - we have to be there to practice at 8am and play a game at 9am - but the joy that football brings him is worth the loss of sleep. Keaton has played in 2 games and has successfully pulled the flags off 3 kids on the other team and has even caught the ball! He's especially enjoying the jersey that is blue on one side and flips inside out to be white on the other. For some reason that is super exciting for a first grader. It is so much fun to see your kids doing something they enjoy!

Pictures coming soon!