Fetal Fotos

We went to Fetal Fotos yesterday to see if Mini Martin is a girl or a boy. I checked Jax out of school early because I wanted both kids to be there.

I love going to Fetal Fotos because it's such a fun experience, much different from just the 20 week ultrasound you have at the doctor's office. They have a big TV up on the wall where you watch the ultrasound, plus, you get to find out 5 weeks earlier! The baby was curled up in a little a little ball, the ultrasound tech had to poke my stomach, have me lay on my side for a few minutes, and then poke my stomach some more just to get the little stinker to move so we could see if it was a boy or girl! Finally she got the "bum" shot she needed and we could clearly see that it's a baby BOY!!!!! After we got him to move, we saw several more "boy" shots! We saw his cute little profile, arms, legs, and a nice healthy heart beating! He held his hand up to show us he has all his fingers and even wiggled his toes for us! Pretty cute little toes too!

When she told us it was a boy, Jax stood up and said "YES!!!!!!" He was SO excited!! He said he would have been excited for another sister, but, he is especially excited for a baby brother! Nick and I are thrilled! We didn't have a preference, just a healthy baby, but I have had a feeling that it's a boy. We are going to name him Noah, not totally sure on the middle name yet, but he is definitely going to be a Noah! We can't wait for him to get here in June!

Baby number 3!!!

Jax and Ella are going to have a new little brother or sister the beginning of June! We are all very excited! Jax says he wants a brother and Ella says she wants a sister...go figure! Mommy and Daddy don't care if it's a boy or girl, just as long as we have a healthy baby...and I wouldn't mind it if this nausea and constant sleepiness would go away, but it's well worth it. Hopefully we will find out what we are having in about 3 weeks!

San Francisco

Last weekend I went to San Francisco with my dad, brother, and sister, we left on saturday morning and came back on monday afternoon, it was just a quick trip, but it was great to spend time with them. The main reason we went was to go to a 49ers game. Last year we went to Seattle to a Seahawks game and we had a blast, Colby didn't come with us last year, but he did this year and i was glad he came so I could spend time with him too. On saturday, after arriving in San Francisco and, after finally finding our hotel, we went on a boat out to Alcatraz and  got a tour of the island and inside the prison. It was really neat and creepy at the same time. The prison had a dark, depressing feeling to it, which you would expect, for part of the tour, you had your own headphones and voices of some of the correctional officers and inmates narrated the tour. So it was kind of like you were on your own little tour, which I thought was really neat. You got to see all the cells, which were tiny, some of them had the cots and some blankets and props in there. We got so see where the solitary confinement was. One of the guards let Dani and i go into the cell and the guard shut the door so we could see what it was like to be in solitary confinement...it was pitch black and after about 10 seconds i started getting claustrophobic and wanted out! I can't imagine being in there 24 hours a day. We saw the cafeteria, warden's office, other cells, the library, where the guards would go to have their breaks and the control room. We saw the outside of the apartments where the guards and their families lived, it was hard to believe that children lived on the island too! I wouldn't want my babies living there, but, apparently they felt safe because of all the guards and the belief that the prison was "inescapable". It was really neat and I hope to be able to go back there some day with Nick.

The 49ers game the next day was a lot of fun, our seats were on the 3rd row on the 50 yard line, so we could see everything up close. Colby and Dani got field passes and got to walk around on the field before the game started, Colby even got to have his picture taken with two of the cheerleaders, which made his day! After the game we did a little souvenir shopping for the kids and had some dinner. The weekend went by fast but we had a lot of fun.

Halloween

My mom had her traditional, fantastic halloween party again this year, and again, we had a blast! Her house was totally decorated, we had yummy food, and the kids had a blast. Jax was 'war machine' from Iron Man 2, Ella was a beautiful ladybug, and Nick dressed up as a deer and I was the hunter...he had a target on his chest (with real bullet holes in it) and I had a fake gun. Colby dressed up as Michael Jackson, he looked so much like him I couldn't believe it, my mom was Captain Jack Sparrow, and Dani was a hot dog and Derek was a bottle of beer. All of the costumes were hilarious, and, yes, dressing up is mandatory at the party. We played a few games, watched a Shrek halloween movie and had yummy cupcakes that Dani had decorated to look like witch hats (i know, im shocked too).

On halloween night, we went back up to my mom's house and took the kids trick-or-treating with my cousin and her kids.

Finger painting!

 A couple of weeks ago (told you I was horrible at blogging!) I let the kids fingerpaint...actually, they started out using brushes and before I knew it, they were just dipping they're fingers in the paint and smearing it on the paper. Since they were having so much fun doing it, and the paint was washable, I decided to let the continue to use fingers...and make a GIANT mess! While they were busy making the 'mess-terpieces' Jax looked at me and said "Mom, you're filling my bucket right now. Do you know what that means? When you are nice to people, you fill their bucket, and when you are mad, you empty their bucket. So since you are letting me and Ella finger paint, and because we are having good behavior, you aren't upset with us, so you are filling my bucket. It makes me feel really happy." I have no idea where he came up with that, but it was so cute! They had a blast finger painting, and when they were done, they were a MESS!! I had them take off their shirts so they didn't get ruined, and they had paint all over their stomach, face, arms, it was even in their hair. When they were done, they thought it was pretty fun to watch the colors go down the drain in the shower. Luckily, they used up all of the paint, so we won't have to worry about that kind of a mess for a while. But, they still manage to make plenty of other messes!