Who do you think you are?

OK, I really think that this show is blog worthy! There is so much trash on the tv now days, but I really think this show is a gem. Really. Its refreshing to see something like this on tv now days.
If you have never heard of it, it is basically a show about a few Movie stars discovering their family tree and genealogy. Are you interested yet? Ok, it may not sound super riveting.... but it is!

Growing up in a home where genealogy research is a significant part of my parents life, I love history and learning about my own family history. If there are two things that that will always stand out to me about my parents, is that #1) They love to attend the temple whenever they can and #2) they love genealogy/temple work ...and might I add, are very thorough and detailed about not just finding names and dates--- but discovering the story behind their ancestors lives.
So this show does have some what of an appeal for me.

Anyway, I think it is incredible that people of all different walks of life and backgrounds have an interest in their family roots, or family history. If you think about it, who are ancestors were, in fact influences who we are today. We are truly connected with them in so many ways, and I think that people recognize that and that their is importance of finding out who their ancestors are and where they came from.

Well, I am done ranting and raving about this show, but, if genealogy has never really sparked your interest, check out this show! It really makes one think: "who do you think you are?"

http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/

Rub-a-Dub-Dub... three men in a tub!

Rub-a-Dub-Dub... three men in a tub!

Some of our friends from Dallas came down for a quick little visit a couple of weeks ago! Benjamin LOVED playing with Owen and Parker! I think he was so thrilled to have friends sleeping in his room.
They had so much fun in the tub together!

Monday Night.

Monday night was a little crazy. Everything worked out, but I wanted to write about it anyway for Benjamin's Journal and personal record.


While Rob was giving Benjamin a bath,Benjamin had a seizure. Rob was super quick and pulled him out of the tub. Its amazing that even though Benjamin was underwater for seconds, he still swallowed a ton of water. It makes me sick to think if rob wasn't there. (I mean, you never leave your kid unattended when their having a bath-- but this happened so fast, that even if you just stepped out for a sec, your kid could drown).

Anyway, I called 911 (Just in case if things got worse)and timed the seizure. Usually when he has a seizure, they are a min or less, but this time his was a very long 2mins. We even had a shot ready to give him if it lasted more than 5 mins. Thankfully it was only 2 mins. Its amazing how it doesn't matter how many times you see your kid have a seizure, it still is a horrific sight. Every time he has one I just pray that he will come out ok, and that he won't suffer any brain damage or anything because of lack of Oxygen. Even though I know that it probably is "just" a *febrile seizure , and they usually come out ok.
It took Benjamin a while to come back to, but he eventually did by the time the Medics got there. Rob took Benji's temperature, and it was 98.7. At first Rob and I weren't going to take him in to texas children's ER, but after talking to the medics and our family Dr. we thought we should. Thankfully, we were in and out in record time-- 3hours. They are pretty sure it was another Febrile Seizure, but they weren't positive since his temp was so low. However, Benjamin had a low grade fever the night before and started getting a bit of a cough. Monday morning and afternoon he felt warm to me, and I checked his temp constantly but it was ok. Anyway, thankfully he didn't have another seizure that night, and the following morning we took him in our Pedi.
Sure enough, Benjamin has (yet again) a virus. This kid should get a prize for how often he is sick! We are so lucky though that he is such a trooper about it.
Thankfully this is something that he will grow out why the time he is 7 (only 5 more years of this). :)



*A febrile seizure is a convulsion in young children that may be caused by a sudden spike in body temperature, often from an infection.
Fortunately, febrile seizures aren't as dangerous as they may look. A seizure triggered by a fever is usually harmless and typically doesn't indicate a long-term or ongoing problem.

Family Vacation!

My handsome boys!



This past week, rob took thursday off and he had his 9-80 friday ( I heart 9-80s). So, rob had a really nice 4 day weekend!
Since rob had been working MAD hours the past 2 months to finish up a project, we haven't had a lot of family time at all. I'll admit we are a little spoiled, just because rob's job is pretty great about having good work/life balance. However, since his deadline was bumped up, and he had to finish submitting his thesis--- Benji and I haven't really seen much of Rob. I think we all were a little burned out after everything was done. So, this weekend vacation was very needed.

Thursday:

Morning: We took Benjamin to the Houston Rodeo. This was the first time that we ever have gone to the famous Rodeo! It is a huge thing here in texas, and it has taken us two and half years to go. The ironic thing is, its about a 7 min drive from our house. It was fun to take benjamin to this. He enjoyed the "train ride" to the Reliant stadium from the parking lot. We took him to see the petting zoo. He actually did pretty well around the animals. However, you could tell he was getting uncomfortable when a mass of animals started to crowd him and rob. Benjamin loved the chickens and the roosters, but was scared of the pig! Funny little boy! I think rob loved this part as well :)




We took him to ride a little pony, but as soon as rob tried to put benjamin on the pony, Benjamin cried. We got our money back, and Benjamin never looked back!

We then saw little kids (like 5 year olds) ride sheep. I don't remember what it is called. But it was pretty interesting. I might say that those little kids are pretty brave!


its hard to see, but if you look closely you can see a little kid hugging a sheep!



Afterward, we took Benjamin home for a well needed nap. We actually all took naps!
Evening:
Once Benjamin got up, We packed up our car to take Benjamin camping for the first time at the "aligator park" Brazos Bend state park! Its only about 45 min drive from where we live, which is nice. By the time we got to the campsite, it was pretty dark. Rob set up the tent and we had hotdogs! Benjamin LOVED camping! He loved to hear the owls at night. When it was time to sleep, we could tell he was a little unsure about sleeping in a tent. However, he fell asleep and slept the whole night! I love that he is such a good sleeping and such an easy going kid! Rob and I didn't sleep very well though. It got pretty cold at night because of the wind, and I spent every 5 mins checking if Benjamin was warm enough. Even though rob nor I slept throughout the night, we both felt pretty good throughout the day!

Friday Night:
We were so lucky to get our fav babysitter to babysit Benjamin over night while Rob and I celebrated our anniversary! I know, its a few months early, but we wanted to celebrate it before I don't want to go or do anything, and before baby comes. Baby is due right around our anniversary, and if she is like her brother and comes a week early, its pushing it close to the day of. Anyway, it was fun to get away for a bit, and i always love coming home, because Benjamin is so excited to see us!

Any advice for the overly tired.

I was wondering if any of you have advice for someone who is having serious sleeping issues. Since I had my awful sinus infection (a month ago), I have had a hard time sleeping at night. To make it even worse, I get really bad headaches/migraines, which makes it harder to sleep. On top of that, Benjamin was sick last week, and had a very hard time sleeping through the night ect. Which, has added to sleep deprevation and making it hard for me to have restful sleep. Yes, I know that pregnancy makes you tired. However, When I was pregnant with Benjamin, I was a working full time teacher who was teaching elementary art. Every day was a whirlwind of students, projects, cleaning up, getting out new supplies, lessons,bus duty ect. If you have taught school, you know how physically and mentally demanding teaching is. I also commuted 1.5-2 hours a day, ect.

Anyway, I was tired, but I don't remember being this tired, and to be honest? I feel just as exhausted as I did my first year of teaching which equates to feeling like I have been run over by a truck 50 times (granted that was also the year rob had cancer. I seriously thought I had mono that year).
Anyway, I think part of my problem is that I am not getting the right kind of sleep, and haven't for a couple of months now. Any one have suggestions? Thanks.

The Ultra sound.

Today Rob and I got to find out what we are having. I think that I am due on 25th of July. Around there, anyway.


Rob and I were super excited to find out what we were going to have. Rob was pretty confident that it was going to be a girl this time around. after all, for our siblings its the family tradition on both sides of our family to have a boy, and then a girl.

When I was pregnant with Benjamin, even before we found out what we were having, I knew 99% that it was going to be a boy. Let's just say when we found out, I wasn't surprised. However, with this pregnancy, I had no clue.

While the Ultra sound technician was taking measurements, I caught a glimpse of the babies knees, and saw that there was a "little suspicious something" between the legs and I asked her:"Its a boy, isn't it?" And she smiled and said: "yeah, pretty sure, since he was showing it off to the world." I told rob: "Well, I guess we are breaking the family tradition-- two boys in a row!" We were super excited!
I was excited that Benjamin was going to have a little brother to play around with, and I honestly love having little boys! And especially look forward to the fact when they will be non-emotional, high drama teenagers :)

When all the measurements were done being taken, the technician was going to get a close up picture of the "goods" to confirm the sex. However, as she was trying to get a closer look, she said: "I think that your family tradition may not be broken yet." It was hard to tell what the baby was, since the umbilical cord was sitting right between the legs. After a second ultra sound, the Tech confirmed that we were actually going to have a girl. (She even printed out two separate pictures to confirm the results). I guess what we thought was a boy part, was in fact the cord.

So, I guess that we are going to have a little girl! Benjamin will have a baby sister to take care of! We are excited nonetheless and grateful that everything looks good with the baby!

A baby in one hand and truck in another?

Rob took this picture during nursery a while back. Apparently, one of Benji's favorite toys to play with is the doll. Awesome--- this is normal and healthy, right?
Its funny though, because Benjamin is all boy- yet, every time I peek on him in nursery, I often see him with this baby doll. (i think its kind of cute!)

We are having a baby.... ?

Tomorrow Rob and I will find out what we are having. Our Baby is due the end of July.

We apologize that we have kind of kept this info under the wraps. First of all, Rob and I both admit that we are really bad at communicating information like this. However, to be honest I was a little bit nervous about announcing this pregnancy.

This pregnancy has been totally different than the one with Benjamin. For the first 14 weeks I had spotting,bleeding and severe cramping and I only threw-up once. Apparently, this "can"be normal for some women, but the only time I experienced these symptoms was when I had a miscarriage before Benjamin. So, being slightly paranoid, I didn't really want to tell anyone until I felt comfortable with knowing the pregnancy was ok.
Now being 20 weeks along, I feel a little more confident, however, I am not ignorant. Getting pregnant, having a healthy, successful pregnancy and delivery is truly a miracle--- considering all that can go wrong. We feel very grateful, that things have gone well so far!

This pregnancy was a very welcome surprise, and we think that Benjamin will love having a baby around-- well, we hope. He seems to be obsessed with other peoples babies and loves to love them. We will see if this obsession remains when one comes to stay at his house forever.

Its been interesting to see how different this pregnancy has been. And granted, maybe I am more aware of it because I am not teaching school this time around.

Things that have been different this time around:

- Gained less weight this time around (so far, in the first 20 weeks)
- Was way healthier and in better shape this time going into it (thanks bootcamp!)
- Didn't have to start wearing maternity pants till this week (20 weeks)
- felt the baby at 16 weeks
- Lots of awesome headaches
- Super tired, and all I want is sweets, desserts, junk food. (With Benji, all I
wanted was subway and cheetos). Because I was wasn't gaining any weight, I let
myself indulge in this very dangerous habit. However, I know that I need to cut ties
with my new cravings soon, or I may have to pay for it later :)
- I am super emotional and way more moody! (sorry rob). Who cries during sappy lame
commercials? me.
-

OUt on the Farm.

last month, we went to a BBQ at one of Rob's Co-workers house. They live right outside of pearland, and surprisingly enough, on acres of land. Its almost surreal, because you really feel like you are miles away, out in the country, when really you are right outside the city. Benjamin had so much fun. He saw horses, drove a tractor and "rode" a motorcycle and a mini-zip-line. Lets just say our kid was in heaven.