31 weeks

I've been meaning to take belly pictures for weeks and it seems that Max is rarely home when there is still day light outside. and the times when he is home during day light hours, I'm often wearing sweats with my hair not brushed. For these reasons, my pictures continued to be postponed. This afternoon after church, Max had some meetings so I attempted to go outside and have the deck railing take my picture...they weren't so flattering.

so creepy..hairy face

Luckily Max got home before it was dark so we went back outside and took some more. Still not so flattering. I really can't believe how huge I am. haha! Here I am 31 weeks along. I don't know how much more that baby boy can grow. Yikes.

The good news is that I think I feel a lot better this pregnancy. I don't really have any aches or pains. I can still run while pushing the jogging stroller even though I can't go as far as I used to. However, I don't go as often because sometimes just sitting on the couch sounds a lot more relaxing. A couple days ago I wanted to see if I could still do push-ups and I could. Granted, I don't have to go down as far seeing how my belly hits the floor before I get my chest all the way down.
I remember last pregnancy that the top of my big belly would sting quite often. I have felt that occasionally this time but it seems much more rare. My back feels great and strong, it gets a little tired if I sit for too long. Overall, I get more exhausted by the end of the day and sometimes I feel like I am a bottomless pit during meals (or between meals...or all the time) I strongly dislike dropping things on the floor because of the extra effort it takes to pick it up. With all this rapid weight gain I am definitely feeling exhausted with simple tasks such as tackling Charlie to get his shoes on or carrying him up the stairs when he wont go up himself.

I love feeling this boy constantly moving. It seems that he has become much more active in the last 2 weeks. I love watching my belly warble and wondering what his little personality will be like.

And here are some other pictures we took from that evening and I will put them here because I'm not sure where else to put them.

My dashing 2-year-old

My cheesy 2-year-old

He got to the top of the stairs and did a little dance!

He really does love his mama!

Lucky Boys

Last week when we were staying in a hotel in Seattle ( a couple posts down) I cuddled with Charlie until he drifted off to sleep. During that time I tried to absorb all the wonderful feelings I have about mothering this precious child. Moments before Charlie let sleep over take him, he slipped his precious little hand into mine. I couldn't help but think how innocent and delicate his little hands were (are). As I was holding his hand, baby brother jumped and flipped around inside me. I pondered on how I want to raise my sons. I pondered on how Charlie's hands compare to his dad's hands which are sensitive and delicate yet strong and let me know with a simple grasp that they will do anything to protect me and our family. They are hands of humble respect. I feel an absolute privilege when I think of parenting my children with Max. I know my boys are so lucky to have an amazing example of a tender, respectful, confident, and strong man. They probably wont even realize it most of their lives, but Charlie is already learning from Max's example and modeling some of his most beautiful traits. Max and I are two very imperfect people but I like to think that we have a lot to offer to our children. My sons will not be exactly like their dad, nor should they be, they are their own people and will make their own contributions to this life. I hope that they can learn that they don't have to always be tough to be a "real man." I hope they can learn that respecting everyone for who they are takes you far in life. I want them to learn that the delicate moments in life are just as important as the moments where strength is needed. I know this is somewhat of a rambling post, and I don't even know if I clearly wrote what I'm thinking but it felt important to me that I document it and share it with my boys as they get older.  

Max, in his extreme patience, let Charlie help him with a project that used real tools. Charlie was SOOO happy.

Bon Fire and a Movie

As we (mostly Max) have been working hard in the yard, we have accumulated quite the gigantic pile of yard debris. Little by little we have been burning it by a stump near (but not too near) our house. Max and I have enjoyed these bonfires. He have done 'smores and sat around drinking hot chocolate. We've been wanting to invite some friends over to enjoy the bonfire and to do a projector movie on the side of our house. We were able to do this once with some neighbors during the summer and it was a blast. The problem is that most of our friends have children (not really a problem, kids are great) that go to bed before the time it gets dark in the summer. So, this is why we decided to try an outdoor movie/bonfire night in January. We could start it at 6! We invited our friends Kerri and Corbrett with their daughter Madeleine and our neighbors Janaya and Mike with their kids June and Max. This was a complete experiment because we weren't really sure how cold it was going to be or how much the kids would be into the movie. Our neighbors weren't able to stay too long but it was fun to get to know Janaya and June better. Mike and Max (the 2-month old baby) stayed home. We watched Toy Story 3 because that has been one of Charlie's favorites recently. It ended up being really cold!  Also, the way we had the movie, chairs, and fire set up, we weren't able to sit too close to the fire. We chugged some hot cocoa made a couple s'mores. Charlie was really enthralled in the movie which surprised me because I thought that with him being outside, he would be too distracted to watch it. About half way through the movie it was so cold and Charlie and Madeleine had been a little sick so Kerri and Corbrett decided to take Madeleine home and we took Charlie inside to go to bed.  Overall, we learned that we probably wont do this again until it's warmer out. The kids did great and were safe around the fire. After Charlie went to bed, we cleaned up the movie supplies and Max and I enjoyed the rest of the evening together by the fire. 

Notice the massive pile of yard debris

Keeping warm

Seattle FD/My little Pony

On Thursday, when Max got off work in the evening we started a 3 hour drive up to Seattle to be there in time for Max's interview with the Seattle Fire Department the following morning. We didn't start on our drive until nearly 7pm. I did the driving so Max could get some extra studying in. Charlie fell asleep about the last hour of the drive. We were hoping he would transfer directly to bed. We arrived at the hotel around 10:30 and after getting checked in and our luggage to our room, Charlie was wide awake and ready to explore. (side-note: Normally when we have gone up North for fire fighting stuff we have stayed at my brother's house, this time the interview was at least an hour north and early in the morning so and we wanted to make sure Max got a good nights sleep...so we went to a hotel 7 minutes away from the interview) So we get into the room and Charlie is beyond excited, running from light to light turning  them on and off, digging in the snack bag, spilling the muddy buddies, opening and closing the fridge etc. We were terrified that it would take him forever to settle down, I was prepared to stay up and cuddle with him all night so Max could get the sleep he needed. We quickly got ready for bed and made the pull-out bed up for Charlie. We turned off all the lights and I cuddled with Charlie in his bed and sang to him. Much to our pleasant surprise he settled down pretty quickly and fell asleep all while I enjoyed my cuddle time with him,.And then I turned on some lights to take a picture of my sleeping angel.  

Both my boys slept well all night long, I, on the other hand, am starting to get uncomfortable with this massive belly of mine so I didn't sleep the greatest.

We woke up early and Max got all ready...
Here is a little tidbit about this interview process, and why this interview was such a big deal...For fire fighting, all departments have a test you have to take first. After the test you are ranked and the highest percent are called back for interviews. Out of the tests that Max has taken this was the first time that he was asked to come back for an interview. They are interviewing 2600 people and 1500 will be called back to have Chief's interview. Max will not know if he goes back for that second interview until Valentine's day. After that interview they are ranked again and the top 25% will be invited back for the physical test. Then those that pass will be invited to the training academy which has a 25% fail rate. Which should leave a list of about 200 people ranked for 50-60 jobs. SO, this is incredibly competitive. Max has a lot of great things going for him and this would definitely be a dream career so as of now we are just praying for God's will. In the meantime we are so grateful for the job he has now and his generous employer.

So yes, I took his picture at the hotel door as he left for his interview.

In the meantime, Charlie and I played a bit at the hotel and watched some Friday morning cartoons. He ran around and explored some more. He especially liked this luggage rack.

Also, he wore his brand new "good luck" fire truck pajamas. 

Eating Strawberries and watching cartoons

After a little bit of lazy time Charlie and I got ready to go to the pool.

He was a little anxious

We played at the pool for awhile then Max joined us and we had some fun swimming time. Max had mixed feelings about the interview. He felt like it went so fast that there was information that he wasn't able to share with them but he also felt like he had shared some good traits and he filled the time perfectly. (it was a panel interview where 3 fire fighters were questioning him) We have to wait and see but it was fun to have him back and a little relieved for the rest of our fun family day. 

After swimming, we packed up and checked out of the hotel then headed to IHOP for a family lunch. Charlie was kind of being adorable and I kind of wanted to take a bunch of pictures so that's what happened.

He then starteed doing some science experiments with the ice. 

First he tasted it and said "mmmmmm." Apparently this is his yummy face.

He then set the ice on the table and shot it around with his finger. He laughed like crazy. I love my little explorer.

And then he wanted to hold Max's hand while they were eating. This made him so happy. 

and then he put a fork in Max's hand and made him feed him some ham.

And this is his ham face (pun intended)

After we were stuffed we took Charlie to the mall to run a little bit before our hour drive to my brother's house to celebrate Gwenevere's 5th birthday with an amazing My Little Pony party put on by James and Elizabeth. I don't know much about My Little Pony but apparently it's a big thing among 5 year olds.

Gwenevere had some of her best friends come to the party.

James and Elizabeth made an amazing Pony pinata.

And the winning shot!

Elizabeth had some fun relays prepared.

They also dug for jewels, then created crowns with their jewels.

Gwenevere's beautiful heart cake.

This little guy is growing up so fast. He's almost 4 months. 

Max got a whole bunch of smiles out of him. 

She even got to cut her own piece of cake 

Then there was a pony photo shoot. 

Hugs for the birthday girl.

After the party we stayed and ate a wonderful dinner and got Charlie all ready for bed. We then had some cousin/climb on uncle Max time. There were a whole lot of giggles.

WE then headed home, Charlie spent most of the ride sleeping and Max and I were able to have some enjoyable road trip conversation time. Thanks to James and Elizabeth for hosting a wonderful party.