boo at the zoo

this year the zoo started boo at the zoo during the day. however, preggo-crazy-can't-remember- a-thing-lady got the dates wrong and went a day too early. sheesh! oh well....

daddy went with us (a very rare treat) and miss v offered to take a (even more rare) picture of the grown ups only!

since the weather was super nice (the most rare event EVER) we were able to check out some additional exhibits.

like the super hilarious and super cute tri-butticus...definitely my favorite! ;)

pumpkin patch

no you are not experiencing dejavu. the last post was also about pumpkins...but...well...it's just that time of year. our dear friend hbl turned six last saturday, and had a party at the patch. bauer was AMAZED by the large tractor that carried us to the fields....

vivian worked very hard at picking her special pumpkin...but decided alas that she needed a little help from mommy since they were all so heavy! ;)

back on the hayride, i managed to get a great shot of v and the birthday boy. (and yeah, that is a sorority girl smile in the making if i have ever seen one!)

and just for posterity...i did get ONE picture of bauer looking at the camera...but doesn't his little face just scream, "what mom?! can't you see there is a TRACTOR over there?" :)

pumpkin pickin'

what should you do with the first cool, fall saturday?

why....pick your pumpkins of course! the church where clif and i grew up, has been selling pumpkins to raise money for their youth group since....well....clif and i were little!! ;)

the superheros, ready to get busy.....

sweet b with his find.

and the crew with some of my personal favorites....the gourds. hope everyone is enjoying this amazing weather!

oh, i almost forgot....the second thing you should do on a day like today: surprise your sweetie with a big plate of buffalo wings and blue cheese to enjoy while watching the razorbacks. look how happy it makes him! :)

a conversation with big sister

me: hey vivian, what do you think about the name grant?
vcd: no mommy. it sounds like greedy. would you want a greedy baby?
me: no...i guess not. well, what about hatcher or holden (what can i say? i was rereading catcher in the rye.)
vcd: noooooo, mother.
me: oh...ok. well, why don't you suggest a few names.
vcd: ok. what about:
minick
diggit
shelly
wait, that's too, nubby...shellican is better, mommy.
marlakate (one word, i asked)
peela
leega
airanick (which i quickly realized was a cross between aaron and nick.)
sennican
mannequin (she apparently like the "can" sound...we had quite a few of these.)
nan
narneca
vivica (the name of one of barbie's three musketeers.)
me: vivica sounds a lot like vivian. why don't i just name her vivian?
vcd: MOOOOOOMMMMM!!! vivian is standing right here beside you! you gotta pick a different name! uuuuuhhhh!! (in exasperation...and walks off, obviously tired of me.)
me: oh, thanks.
:)
oh, and just for the record. when we first told vivian we were having a baby she wanted to name it "pumpkin patch sally clark". so this is an improvement...i guess?!

gone punk

so i might have mentioned my recent personal dilemmas....but rest assured, that has not slowed us down one bit. things around here have been as busy as usual! we are still making playdates a priority, visitng the museum, and wrecking havoc in general! ;) bauer has decided to embark upon a new way of thinking....so i take this opportunity to introduce to you...

punk bauer!!!

obviously, punk bauer still spreads the love...

and brushes his teeth. hey, as long as the basics are there.....i'm cool with it! ;)

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? ;)