Oliver

Naming a child can be very difficult. My cousin asked me before we found out the gender of the baby what were some of the names we were thinking of naming the baby. I was having a difficult time coming up with a girl name but I had my name set for a boy. So as I was telling her my boy name she started cutting in and out with her cell phone. So here's the conversation from my side of the story.

Me: If it's a boy his name will be Oliver!

Carie: I...the ...Oliver

Me: Carie....Carie your breaking up.

Carie: Don't...name.

Me: Carie...Carie!

Carie: Hey can you hear me? Before we break in and out again....I really dislike the name Oliver. Even more I can't stand Ollie.

Me: I don't like Ollie, but I love the name Oliver.

Carie: People will call him Ollie for short!

Me: We will correct them. You may learn to love the name Oliver over time!

After we found out it was a boy, I started second guessing our name. I began looking at baby boy names but I would see Oliver in a list of names and I would full in love with the name over again.

Yesterday the kids had off of school because this week their on Easter break. So I took them to Fontana Park and later we walked on the beach and kids enjoyed playing in the hills of sand. After our fun afternoon I took them to Cold Stone for a little treat. My ultimate favorite ice cream is banana. It's a specialty flavor and it's rarely there when we go. Before we headed in I got a call from my boyfriend/Brandon and we talked briefly about our day. Once I got everyone their ice cream I sat down, took a couple of bits and wrote Brandon a text. As I wrote the text I had a huge grin on my face thinking of my cousin. I may learn to love the name Ollie after all, maybe!

20 weeks

I had received a request by my lovely cousin a few weeks ago if, I would start taking pictures of my progress of my pregnancy. I told her I would at 16 weeks and then every 4 weeks after. Well I didn't get around to a 16 week but here's my 20 week. Colin took pictures of my stomach and then without asking he took a picture of my face as I was sitting on the bed. While he took my picture he said your so beautiful mom and dad is so lucky to have you as his wife as he said this he started to get teary eyed. It was such a sweet and tender moment he captured. He's such a thoughtful boy and I'm such a lucky mom!

Now that we know it's a boy, I've had so much fun buying a few things for him. I found a lot of things on the clearance racks at Target, Old Navy and Kids Gap. The stores are getting rid of their fall/winter items which will be perfect for our September baby. I love sales!

I found Oliver a 49er's shirt for $2 at Old Navy that will be perfect for watching the football games with his daddy! A sight I'm excited to see! I love my boys....plus our little cheerleader!

Happy Birthday Brandon

Since Brandon was going to be in Germany over his birthday, we decided to celebrate his birthday a little bit earlier. He was leaving Monday afternoon so, we had Brandon's favorite kind of cake for breakfast that morning...vanilla/vanilla! Everyone to there own, I guess!

Happy Birthday to my handsome husband!

Hope you have a wonderful year!

We love you so much and couldn't be prouder of you! xoxo

It's a Boy!

Nope it's not an April Fools joke. We indeed are blessed with a baby boy. Within 15 seconds into the ultrasound I saw something in between the legs. I myself was excited until I looked over at Lily who was almost in tears. She had her heart set on a sister. So the first 5 minutes my mom had to consoled her. My mom also was a tiny bit bummed as well. She loves her granddaughter's and was hoping for one more. We left and went out for lunch and did some shopping. My mom and I bought a few outfits for Oliver. With a little shopping therapy I was hoping my mom and Lily would cheer up. I think it helped. I, myself fell in love with him the moment I saw him. Boys are excited and so is Brandon. He did ask me if it was an April Fool's joke, my reply "nope". When we got home I told Lily how lucky she is to be the only princess in the family. She will have 4 brother who will protect her. She then asked to watch the video of her baby brother and right now she's in his room playing with a couple of his stuffed animals. I think he's starting to grow on her!

Blue or Pink?

I have a secret.... the kids are skipping school tomorrow and seeing their newest sibling in action. My mom is coming along and is so excited to see her newest grand baby. I'll be having an elective ultrasound in Madison. They have a huge room and a play area for small children. The kids really wanted to be apart of seeing the baby and finding out the gender together. Unfortunately Brandon will not be able to be there. Which he's okay with, but he's asked me to tell him in a creative way. Can you say pressure. Good news is the the ultrasound comes with a DVD of the whole session, so I'll be putting it on YouTube for him to watch.

In anticipation for tomorrow I bought two outfits and plan on taking one back. Kid's are placing bets. I told the kids they had to make a guess and if they get it right they get a buck, yup $1.

So will it be a...........

Oliver Ray

or

Vayda Elizabeth

To be continued........

Happy 5th Birthday to our Lily Cakes!

xoxo

Yummy Cupcakes

This afternoon Lily and I made some cupcakes for her class tomorrow for her birthday treat. We decided to make a multicolor cupcakes. Lily had a blast mixing the food coloring into the cake mix. I had fun trying to spoon the mix into the pan but, soon became more tedious than fun! Out of the 30 cupcakes only 20 turned out nice. The rest were either badly burnt or just teeny tiny burnt which the kids gladly ate once they got home from school. Lily can't wait to show her classmates her magical cupcakes she made!

Couple of Adorable Nightstands

Do you remember these nightstands? Well I do! When I told Ryan and Sara that the nightstands were done I think I could hear them shouting and dancing from across the street! Kidding aside, they definitely were so happy to get them in their master bedroom. I have a couple more pieces to do and then their bedroom furniture is complete. Pictures to come!

Family Room

Remember this? I so love this buffet! I was even more pleased that it fit downstairs because I wouldn't have had the strength to move it back upstairs! A couple of weeks ago we changed up our family room. Before we did anything I had three criteria, we needed a table to play games with the kids, we wanted the kids computer downstairs and enough seating for everyone to watch a movie as a family. We originally wanted a sectional but didn't want the huge price tag that comes with it. So we decide to check out craigslist. We didn't find a sectional but we found a newer couch that is huge and you can differently fit 4 people on it. We bought it for a nifty price tag of $175, music to Brandon's ears. I don't know if I would have chosen that particular color but for the price it's differently growing on me more everyday. I feel we accomplished our agenda.

Lily's Birthday

Okay, so technical Friday wasn't Lily's birthday but, we decided to celebrate it a little early since Brandon would be out of town on her birthday. Friday night was filled with a lot of pizza, cake, gifts and laughter! She's such a little princess!

Science Fair

The kids had their Science Fair last week. Gabe made an awesome looking volcano! He wanted a ginormous volcano which meant he needed to round up a lot of newspaper in our neighborhood. I think he achieved his goal. Gabe had so much fun creating his own volcano.

Colin's project was finding out which battery was better Duracell or Energizer. He purchased two of the same flashlights and decided to test out the batteries. He did the experiment in the storage room and first shined the flashlight's on the TV screen to see which one was brighter...Duracell won this one. Then he left the flashlights on and checked them every 30 minutes....Duracell once again won by an extra 30 minutes. Another bonus about Duracell is it's $0.25 cheaper per battery. Just a little something I learned from Colin