Ballerina Class

Gabriella just started her "Ballerina Class" (as she calls it) last Saturday. It was super cute - I don't think I stopped smiling the whole time. There's something very entertaining about watching a bunch of 2 year olds run around in tutus and ballet shoes trying to follow instructions. She had a BLAST - she is very into anything structured with a teacher. We often play school, BSF, swimming lessons, etc. at home. I am usually the teacher but it varies. Sometimes she is and today she even tried to rope Oliver into being her swimming lessons teacher. When asked, "Teacher, what should I do today?" he had two instructions for her:

Number one: "Put your face in the water"
Number two: "Go find your other teacher"

Meaning me. Very sly that boy.

Gabby needed no encouragement to follow along with what she was supposed to be doing - this girl is very self-motivated! Mommy had fun dressing her up too! We all enjoyed focusing on her and celebrating this lovely lady.

Showing off her reward sticker at the end of the class. This girl LOVES stickers. I am constantly picking them off the floor, the furniture, and my clothing... where sometimes I wonder how long they have been there. Especially when I find them on the bottom of my belly that I can't really see right now. She is sneaky...


Here is some video of our little ballerina in action:

Enjoying the Summertime

I really feel like summer kicked off on Memorial Day weekend. It's hot, our spring activities are done, and we've started our theme weeks! Each week of the summer we have a different theme that we focus our activities on. We started off with Firefighter week... and here is my brood playing their daddy-inspired game of putting out fires around our house. I'm loving all of their outfits!

We have such a fun Daddy! He really gets into playing with the kids!

Here is my non-performer at his end of year preschool program. At least he didn't cry this time. But there was definitely no singing from those lips!

Gabby in her "Goddles" as she calls them. She LOVES them - and sticks her face right in the water. I don't see her having the fear of water that her brother does (or did - swimming lessons seems to have cured him of that! Woo hoo!)

Oliver wearing one of Matt's old sport shirts from when he was a little boy as a nightshirt to sleep in. Super cute and perfect for our warm summer nights!

And here's me looking (and feeling) huge! Baby #3 is due in less than 3 weeks!

Happy Memorial Day

Remodeling of sorts

Our household makeup is up for remodeling. We are working to prepare for a new introduction coming at the end of June, but in the meantime, we had to make a hard decision that removed one of our household regulars. We had to put our dog Kuzco to sleep last Sunday. We found out that he had very advanced prostate cancer that had caused his bladder to get so enlarged that it was shutting down his other organs. We saw it on the x-ray and it was pretty extreme. So we made the hard decision to forgo doggie chemo and put him down before the bladder got so full it ruptured which would have been extremely painful. We were very sad as we had him for 7 years - almost our whole marriage. We are doing ok with it now - and it will definitely make our lives simpler in time for the arrival of our new baby.

Gabriella decided she wanted to hand-feed Kuzco one day when he wasn't feeling well...
sweet girl!

This weekend, we made our last trip before the baby comes down to Fulshear to visit my family. Everyone was in town for Emily's college graduation so it was great to see everyone. We all enjoyed getting to celebrate Emily!




We also got to celebrate my sister Megan who is having a baby in August with a "Beck Girls" baby shower. We went to a cute little cafe in Fulshear and really enjoyed our girl time.

All the girls

Sisters

Gabriella's really into making silly faces for pictures now. Here she is modeling one of her silly faces at Megan's shower.

Pregnant Sisters

Gabriella was good at opening presents too

Ready for naptime!

Another silly face

My super cool man - he LOVES going to Meme and Pepe's house and had a blast on the trampoline, in the pool, and with all of their toys and books!

Just love the sweet smile on that baby face!

New Looks

A few people in our home have a new look. My belly is growing bigger everyday giving me an ever-changing look. Here I am at 32 weeks. I am getting nervous about how much bigger I will get over the next two months since I already feel huge! Ahh... pregnancy.

Me and my model girl

The second "new look" is for my dear husband. He finally went to see the eye doctor for the first time in his life (only because I made an appointment for him and told him when to go), and he was not too surprised to find out that he needed glasses. He'd been noticing a lot of squinting and was prepared for whatever news the doctor would hand down. It turns out his prescription is worse than mine and I've been wearing glasses everyday since college. The glasses finally came in today, so below is a picture of the new, studious-looking Matt! I think he's pretty cute!

It will take some getting used to for him - he's already been asking me lots of glasses-related questions. His eyes are still getting used to the adjustments his glasses are making for him, but hopefully after a few days he will be feeling more comfortable.

And because I want to feature all of the members of our family in this post, here's a picture of Oliver... just for nothing except to showcase how cute he is!

Here he is - my little computer man. Just like his Daddy!

Pregnancy Update

I am just starting my third trimester already if you can believe it! I am 28 weeks this week. Nothing too major has plagued me so far. If I get too busy I get backaches and I was really feeling super tired last weekend but I think it was just a combination of a busy weekend and fighting a cold. This week has been much better energy-wise (also probably helping are the afternoon naps I've been taking with the kids every day). I've never been much of a napper, but at the beginning of the pregnancy and now I'm really needing it!

I was happy to hear at my last ultrasound that the baby's kidney is almost back to normal size. My doctor is still wanting to monitor it so we have two more ultrasounds coming up. But hopefully things will stay on the normal side!

The kids have enjoyed feeling the baby kick and intellectually know what is coming... although I know it will be a shock to them when the baby is actually here! I just signed them up to attend the Big Brother/Sister class at our hospital where they get to take a tour, and hear from a nurse how to help care for a baby. Gabby's class encourages them to bring their Teddy Bear from home to practice on. So cute! She will love it! And hopefully Oliver will too - in his class they get to go on a camping and hiking adventure through the hospital.

Things are starting to feel more real about the baby coming now. Some friends are throwing me a baby shower next weekend and I'm going to the doctor every 2 weeks now. I'm also rapidly running out of room for the baby and all of my internal organs. I will miss feeling the baby inside of me, but will enjoy having my body somewhat more normal in a few months. I've pulled some baby stuff out of the attic so with that stuff and some teeny-tiny diapers and setting up the pack-N-play in our room, we should be ready to go once the baby arrives. We've narrowed down a few names (both for a boy and a girl) and are ready for the big announcement in the delivery room of whether it is a boy or girl! That is really fun to look forward to - it hasn't really been too hard for me to wait to find out.

Exciting times ahead! We'll keep you posted!

Happy Easter!

Photography by Oliver...