lee love

i've said it before and i'll say it again...we are SO blessed to have the lee's in our life. as our numbers have expanded, so has the fun!

trying to get a picture is impossible....and i LOVE it!

and apparently so do they!

ok...so maybe they were loving it more than me! what a crew!!!

gnomes.

steph and i took the kids downtown last week to have lunch in the rivermarket, and to enjoy the weather. we also hit the fairly new, game and fish exhibit.
did you know arkansas has a very cute population of gnomes?

both female and male, have been documented and photographed. :)

where are you?

"over heeeeeere!!!" i guess daphne found her old buddy!! ;)

stinky ramblings

apparently, i am not that great at multi-tasking-motherhood duties. today vivian mentioned that i was "stinky" looking. now in her defense i was a bit...well....let's just say "unkept". leave it to a four year old to be honest.

so, in her honor, here is a little more honesty for you:

my mother did not own a baseball hat. nor any other greasy hair covering accessories. never in all my years did i see her wear a ponytail or pick me up from school with paint covered clothes, or no makeup. dinner was NEVER frozen. piles of laundry were never insurmountable (ie. taller than the children). the table was set every night, the clean clothes were on the corner of your made bed when you got home from school....and you were greeted by a hair-rolled-lipstick-on picture of perfection. how in the world did she do it?

i wish i knew.

i wish she were here to ask.

but she isn't, and that stinks, too.

all too often i feel like we as mothers are...well...guilt ridden. for example: i have been wrestling with the fact that i didn't think on the night of vivian's accident to have a plastic surgeon sew her up. the truth is, at that moment i didn't care. all i wanted was MY vivian. my walking, talking (even sassing), laughing four year old. her partially shaved head, and a booboo were (and still are) SO minimal, as long as the rest was intact. and i KNOW that in the big spectrum who gives a hoohoo about a scar, right?! but alas....mommy me=guilty. case in point: tonight for dinner i made a pumpkin pie. note: i said for dinner, not for dessert. yeah, and then i realized that was pretty unhealthy, so after dance i got the kids mcd's instead. yeah, i'm mother of the year, i know. why am i spilling the proverbial beans, you ask? where are my rambling leading? who knows....

but i do know this: i have been in a bit of a funk lately. feeling as if something big is about to happen. i won't lie, the last few weeks have been....well....heavy. i have started a new bible study of esther. it is amazing, and is truly rocking my world...changing the way i look, at not only myself, but my marriage, and other women. also, i don't think i have shared that my best friend lost her baby a few weeks ago at almost 17 weeks. this hit me a lot harder than expected....being the medical type i have always thought miscarriages were god's way of protecting us. (i KNOW this isn't a popular opinion, but i have been on the other end of so many difficult pregnancies, and to watch the family and child suffer...it changes you, and your opinions.) but this was different somehow...personal. shocking. then there was a sudden death of a young man in our community. i did not know him, but his story....so very easily could have been our story. and it moved clif and i both to tears.

so for the record, there is definitely something brewing...and i am hovering between thrilled and terrified.....and oh yeah, stinky.

for the record...

since this isn't my first time, but almost certainly my last...i think it is important to take a moment and reflect on being pregnant. it is amazing to me how god allows us to forget so much about pregnancy. i am sure there is a reason for this, but i must confess...not unlike a lot of what is written on this blog, an idea came to me during a 3am moment of insomnia...and unfolded as the following:

dear somer,
please note that you do not LOVE being pregnant. that you are NOT one of those amazing glowing women, who look like they swallowed a cantaloupe. alas, you are the woman who looks like she swallowed a pound of bacon, and a bag of doritos (ok, so what if i did?!). so for posterity i feel it necessary to document the following reasons for not becoming the next duggar family.
#1. emesis. puke. vomit. ralph. you & toilet, bff.
#2. the ever expanding nose. (think michael jackson's formative years.)
#3. miscellaneous ailments: geographic tongue, spotted skin, nose bleeds, etc.
#4. hypersensitive sniffer. already known as the "bloodhound" amongst friends, heaven forbid, one of the kids should ever try to drink a beer or smoke a cigarette and lie about it....they would be busted before they hit the driveway! but being pregnant exacerbates this wonderful gift...into a frenzy of smells....ooooh, i can't even talk about it (the vomit cometh). let's just say the grocery store is OFF limits!
#5. laziness, sleep deprivation, narcolepsy. i like a nice eight hours at night. pregnancy does NOT like this pattern! pregnant somer likes a 3pm nap, a 3am wake up, and sheer laziness throughout the rest of the day! i do not like lazy, and i like to have a list and check it off. being overly hormonal, constantly dehydrated, and well....fat....impedes this list significantly.
so please somer, before you look at the following pictures, and at the cute little brown eyed, blonde haired angels wrecking total havoc on the playroom at this very moment....remember this list! and stay strong...three is the FINAL number!
lovingly,
your uterus and associated female hormones.

now...on to the much anticipated (and delayed, did i mention the puke?) ultrasound pics.

peanut's first pictures. little arm and leg buds, and of course i think i spot a griffin nose!

backside and measuring length. yep, definitely a day baby, head circumference very near belly circumference. ;)

a quick (vivian's was 145-ish, bauer was 160-ish) heartbeat. and possibly the most beautiful sound in the WORLD! i cried, no joke. somehow, knowing what it means to be a parent, just HOW much you can love someone else....makes it all the more special every time!!

and finally, close up. yep, definitely a griffin nose! ahhh what a blessing!! god is so GOOD and great! what was the beginning of this post about, again?! duggar you better watch out! :)

umm yeah....

puhleeease....you KNEW it was coming! his nickname isn't "monkey-see-monkey-do" for no reason!!

who knew?

apparently there really are people (besides su and cathy) that read this blog. and apparently, they thought we were in need of some new (and slightly more masculine) dress up attire.

popa and dotdot got bauer this awesome pirate costume...which he happily shares with sister.

and sweet spiderman can morph into superman, buzz lightyear, woody, or a knight at any time!

oh....well...we did add one more girly item to the repertoire. can you guess who this is? it's daphne* or course!! both kiddos LOVE scooby, and incidentally it was also one of clif's favorites as a kid....how perfect!

*as a side note, when i went to take vivian's picture for this post, she had very specific instructions for me. "mommy, take one for daddy and then take a second one for gege, this will crack her booty up!" indeed, miss v, indeed!!

essence of vivian

some would say i am obsessed with my camera. i carry it with me ALWAYS, download pictures nightly (or at least try to), and on average take around 200 pictures a month.

sometimes, however, other people use my camera.

apparently vivian felt i really hadn't been capturing her"essence" in the last few posts.

so she decided to take matters into her own hands.

strangely....i think she did quite a good job of capturing EXACTLY what a four year old is all about!! ;)

vivian's BIRFday #4!

or at least that is what miss v says. last night we had the pleasure of having trip AND ruby spend the night in honor of vivian's big day. the boys were great, the girls....well....they were sweet but they giggled ALOT and finally had to be separated so they would sleep.

after a fun morning of blueberry waffles and playing, we went to drop ruby and trip off and grab a bit of lunch. then it was on with the party!! miss vivian asked if we could go bowling, and wouldn't you know it? she BEAT ME! it must have been those snazzy bowling shoes....

or maybe it was her cheerleaders....

or possibly the victory dance itself?!

after a brief nap, we spent a little mawmaw money (thanks so much!) and got the brand new three musketeers barbie...and her pony princess tiny friend, too!!

then we are headed to the lee's for even more celebrating! woohoo!! happy birthday little miss, we love you!! :)

heifer

we had a visitor today, mr. c came over for the morning to hang out. AND our gege was still in town....sooooo what better day to try a new adventure? the heifer village opened not too long ago and is FREE to the public until the end of the year. as you can see the kiddos REALLY enjoyed the mosquito netting.

and the exhibits of what foods are good for you. luckily there were four flaps, what would we have done if there were only three? ;)

dance.

this fall we were signed up for our first season of soccer. clif had volunteered to coach, i had volunteered to provide snacks, and several of our friends were going to be playing. alas, not only the neurosurgeon, but also a very timid mommy and daddy, decided balls flying were probably not such a great idea (and neither was tumbling at gymnastics) so we have decided to start dance!

i am quite aware the pictures are CRAZY!! someone was so excited she couldn't stand still!! and that didn't stop when class started. she did listen well, and pay attention during the entire hour of ballet, tap and jazz...

and even said "can we come back tomorrow?" i think that qualifies as a success!!

gege time at the zoo

gege is in town and we decided (due in part to the lovely and unseasonably cool weather) that a zoo trip was in order.

the carousel was running and gege (since i can hardly stand it when i'm not pregnant) offered to ride! weeeeee!!!!

and our favorite friends the porcupines were enjoying the beautiful day as well, by taking a little afternoon nap! it is hard to tell, but there are two...and vivian commented later how she was SURE they were big sister and little brother...just like her!! ;)

school

it's that time again.....the first day of school. vivian was ready to go monday morning...and big b,

well....let's just say he was a bit less excited. hence mommy having to be IN the picture. thanks big sister vivian for your great photo work!! :)

bauer's BIRTHday #2

we started the day off VERY traditionally. in case you have forgotten, this is the football clif bought for bauer the day he was born! every year we take a picture of the two of them with THIS ball....

wow!! he has really grown...check out past posts!

next we headed to church....bauer sporting his new bday shirt from the mulhearn's. after a quiet lunch of bauer's choosing ("sammies pleeease!"), we tried out some of our many new costumes.

did you know buzz lightyear, space ranger is also buzz lightyear, pirate? who knew that guy could multi-task?! ;)

THE party

it only took us one year to make the executive decision to have one birthday party for BOTH kiddos....and i must say i don't regret it a BIT! as per tradition i made the invites....but this year vivian was a big help. after i printed them in black and white, she colored them...so each one was unique! and before we knew it....

it was party day! the following are just a few of the fun moments captured by our sweet friend whitney...

here, her boys, wilson and campbell, are helping prince bauer put on his magic crown.

and just some of the amazing gifts...

and the MOST amazing birthday girl, who will officially be FOUR on the ninth!! (seriously?! when did that happen?!)

there was play time of all sorts, story time of the classic "tortoise and the hare", an animal show-n-tell (a bunny and a turtle to go with the story, of course), and a very magical cake!

bauer and daddy were pretty excited about the cake. ;)

there was also craft time where we made crowns, magician hats...

swords and magic wands!

then it was time for the BIG birthday song, and the VERY important blowing out of the candles!!

we even opened a few presents!!

can you tell he is a little excited about buzz lightyear? thanks to all our family and friends...you make birthdays and everyday blessed!!