ok-finally

Alright, so the last weekend of June.
We went out of town to celebrate Howard's grandmother's 80th birthday. We left on Friday morning and drove there (took about 3 hours). We got to our hotel and got checked in (worth every cent of the $103 we paid). Howard's aunt had her grandsons (ages 10 & 7) coming into town from north Texas, and the oldest's birthday was Friday. So, we decided to have a little pizza/pool party at our hotel for him. So...off to the pool...

Punkin Pie, cheesin it up!

She LOVED the water!

She had an absolute blast! Oh and the redhead, back of the head you see here, is the birthday boy, Kristopher. Oh and the floatie thing behind Kenz...that was for Maddie and she wouldn't get in it-in the pool at least.

She was trying to give me the peace sign-my camera cut it off.

After fun at the pool we went back to Howard's aunt's house and had pizza and spent time with them, had a little party for Kristopher. Had a ton of pizza and finally headed back to the hotel for much needed baths and relaxing.

See, after bath time she got very friendly with the floatie and everyones faces got friendly with the noodle she was flaring around hitting everyone with.

Kenzie loved having that big bed all to herself. This is what she did until she passed out.

And this happened just minutes after the floatie attack. She was zonked out. I talked on the phone, watched TV, played with Kenzie and she didn't move a muscle.

The next day, we got up and had breakfast in the hotel (free and really great I might add!). Then we all got ready for the party ahead. We got dressed, and headed to Howard's OTHER aunt's beautiful home for the party. Their house is beautiful normally but they went all out for Grandma's 80th birthday party...see...

The decor was really beautiful, and that giant fan you see in the corner was keeping it at a very nice temperature despite being 98 degrees that day.

Yes, my brother in law. He's special. He was not into the food at all, and Maddie would not sit still so he took it upon himself to become baby sitter. He literally watched her during the entire meal so Howard and I could eat and chat. I really love that guy.

The beautiful birthday girl. She looked so beautiful, she always does.

Shortly after 4, we headed home. We had a very nice time spending time with his family. Also, his cousin Celeste who has two beautiful boys (ages almost 3 and 1) has decided she is not going to have any more children so she took it upon herself to give us the majority of the too small outfits from her boys. The clothes are beautiful and I cried.

And down will go preggo

So I know I said I would post about our out of town weekend next, but this takes precedence, trust me.
So my parents are moving. Their apartment isn't ready, so they are going to move in with us until it does. Yesterday evening, Howard, myself and the kids ran into Walmart to get drinks, bottled water, a watermelon, things to keep everyone cool during the move. As we were packing up the car my mom calls and asks if one of us can run in and grab her and my dad's prescriptions. Sure.
So, I go back in and as soon as I step on the rug in front of their mini floral department, I see the rug is bent up. I go to step off of it so I don't fall and don't realize there is water coming out from underneath the rug. So what happens?
I go stumbling forward, the rug coming with me. Because I don't exactly have a good balance of gravity seeing how big my belly is, I start to fall. I placed my left hand over my belly and go down on my right knee and right hand. I feel a sharp pain through my knee and roll to my butt.
**Small Backstory: Right knee was blown out in High School when I was dancing. I blew out my knee cap, ripped ligaments and caused myself to have this condition (I cannot for the life of me remember the name) where my knee caps have shifted to the side...like sliding knee caps) End Backstory**
So, needless to say I had a searing pain in my knee, and my neck hurt from the jolt. Parker started moving, so I knew he was ok. I never landed on my abdomen or back, so I knew that he was just sloshed around a bit.
It just so happened that the Assistant Manager of Walmart watched this happen, she was literally a few feet in front of me. Her, and an off duty EMT came over to help me. The EMT asked me if she could do a quick assesment on me, and I agreed. She took my pulse and told me I definitely don't have heart problems because my heart was beating so hard lol. She felt around my neck, shoulders and back and said I'm going to have a bit of whip lash. She felt my chest and abdomen and saw no signs of labor and felt the baby move herself.
By now I had a million Walmart employees standing over me and I was crying and laughing out of embarassment. I said that my husband, mother in law and kids were in the car waiting for me. One asked what we were driving and I gave him a description and I said that he was just rounding the corner (I could see him from the door). The employee says, 'I'll get him!' and took off at a sprint out of the store. They wanted to call 911, but I was so disoriented at the time, I couldn't think. Seconds later Howard came stalking through the door looking mighty upset. I told him what happened, and he immediately told them to call 911, so they did.
Tons of EMT's and Firemen came in and checked me and confirmed what the off duty EMT said. After tons of time, and tons of ER workers later I did have some ripped ligaments and a bit of whip lash.
Oh and Howard called my mom. She flipped and immediately came in and cried. She felt guilty, bless her heart. On the way to get the kids, my mother in law decided to give me a guilt trip on how scared the kids were and how scared she was, and I lost it a bit. Telling her to stop, please stop...while crying. That was NOT pretty. I'll have a giant scare with a large side of GUILT please!

So now I am a one woman circus act. With my huge preggo belly and on crutches.

The mother of all blog posts

Don't ask me why I haven't blogged, because I don't have an answer. I have wanted to, so finally here it goes.
On Thursday, June 18th Howard's company got us tickets to see a Triple A baseball game. We had a blast! The kids loved it (Maddie just got really tired at the end). I got to meet Howard's coworkers. We were in the shade and really did have a lot of fun. My parents came and loved it too. Maddie spent the time going from person to person including those who were not with our part. Yes, she spent half the game in the arms of Howard's bosses wife and daughter. She really liked them. Mackenzie was just fixated on the game, she loved it (that's my girl). By the end of the 4th inning my sister and her family walked right by us. Her kids actually came and sat with us for about 30 minutes. So, I got to spend some random time with my neice and nephew, which was a very unexpected surprise. By the end of the night, my hips were sore I guess from the way I was sitting. By the time we got home, we were exhausted and it was after 10, although we left at the top of the 8th. By touch my hips were so sore, and when I got home I realized why. Somehow I got a 6" bruise on my right hip and a smaller one on my left. It was sore and protruding and red and purple. Absoutely lovely. Oh and the kids are still talking about the 'ball game'.
Friday June 19th Howard and I sat in the doctor's waiting room absoutely bursting with anxious energy. We couldn't stop figiting! We were constantly texting and twittering and I needed to pee SO BAD (Having downed like 4 bottles of water in the past hour and a half). I was really sore because of my bruises from the night before. When they called us in, Howard and I literally jumped from our seats and ran back to the ultrasound room. I felt like I might throw up, literally. I finally laid down and tried to chill while Howard stood over me and refused to sit. The second the wand hit my stomach the tech asked, 'Well, do you want to know what the sex is? I can tell you my first guess right now." I was like, WHAAAAAAAA?! ALREADY?! CRAP! I was afraid to know. I just let my stomach turn and looked at Howard and made him answer her. He said yes and she said that she was pretty sure it was a boy. All the air Howard and I had in our lungs came rushing out. I told her if she was right, I was going to cry. Seconds later, she showed us another shot of a penis then the scrotum. I cried. Howard cried. She went on to keep checking other things, constantly getting shots of his family jewels calming my fears of a false result. Howard had finally sat down and was radiating testosterone when he realized how obvious it was that his son was a boy, lol. He was measuring right on at a foot long and weighing a pound. He looked wonderful. She showed us all of his organs and we got to see him dancing, opening and closing his mouth, and she even showed us a heat sensor of cord blood going back and forth while still showing me the penis (proving it's not the cord between his legs). I practically danced out of that office. We texted and twittered all our friends and called his parents first. His dad played a joke on his mom and said that it was another girl, but when she heard the truth she screamed, 'I TOLD YOU'! My mom instantly started crying with excitement. Kenzie just shrugged her shoulders and said, 'Yeah, I know'. She was so confident. Brat, lol. Maddie just said, 'YAY BABY BRUDDER!' My regular doc appointment went well. The nurses and my doctor sharing our excitement. I gained my first pound, too. I did my one hour glucose test (I had gestational diabetes with the twins, so we assumed I would have it again, so we decided to test early). I failed the first test by the way and am supposed to go in and have the 3 hour one as soon as I can get in there.
Wanna see pictures? *beware baby boy parts below*

This is the first shot she got, I see why she knew it was a boy lol


Here's a shot of the front of his face with his hand under his head.

And here's a picture of his foot and toes.

So yeah, we're having a boy and finally it is starting to set in. We could not be more excited!
Everyone has asked about names. Only my mother in law has said that she didn't like it but if she had it her way our kids would of been named Linda, Dorothy and Howard III. Not that I have anything against those names, but um. no.
Anyway, his name is going to be Parker Philip West. PP...PPW...PW...I know. Everyone has said that, but that still doesn't take away with how much we love the name. It has made me second guess it a bit though, but oh well. Howard came up with Parker, and I love that for a first name. Philip is my Grandfather's name and he's almost 90, doesn't look at day over 60. I hope and pray that I have health as good as he does at 90 when I'm 50!
So, that exciting end of that week was followed by a busy, but great weekend and last week. We have sent in an amended version of our taxes to the IRS which will result in another refund. SCORE, THANKS RENEE! We finally got my grant money from school which we were able to use for some stuff we needed, including some maternity clothes for me that I have to return because they are ALL TOO BIG!! We are going through all of the pink clothes we have and are preparing to ebay it up.
Last weekend was amazing...we went out of town and I took a ton of pictures. However, I think I'm going to end this one for now.