High on Summertime

We love the summer around our house, and we were fortunate enough this year to get an early dose on our recent trip to Galveston.

This view will never get old.  It was a great way to begin the trip

Little Pope loved playing in the sand, probably because he could be messy and not get in trouble!

Some of our friends joined us on this trip and brought their awesome tricked-out mule.  We loaded it down and drove the short distance to the bay side.

Little Pope loved to dance to the music playing from the sound system!

He has no inhibitions about dancing in public, just like his dad.

Of course no trip is complete without golf clubs!

My mini adult decided he should try and swing my club because playing with the kid clubs is so yesterday!

And then the Pope golf skills come out.  I know another Pope that chops at the ball as well.

Camo was soooo good the whole trip!  He happily went with us to the beach and pool both days!

I believe these are his first steps into the Galveston bay!

I can't believe he will be 2 in just a few weeks!  Sniff.

Hanging in the shade with the Littlest Pope!

It took a little convincing from NN to get him into the kiddie pool at the clubhouse.

At the end of the day he took to it like a duck to water.

Cheeeeeeeese

Everyday brings something new around our house these days.

Our sweet little one seems to grow bigger everyday!

And his blue eyes deepen in color everyday!

Camo has started to smile and giggle, which just melts my heart.

Of course all I have are these pics because every time I try to get video he stops.

And this one is a little mini adult!  I bought him some sunglasses so he could be cool like Kliff Kingsbury, the Texas Tech head coach.  Right now the Nutrition Nazi is shaking his head!

 

And speaking of NN…Little Pope is so in love with his dad.  He will go in the closet and get a matching pair of shoes and then try to walk in them.  As far as he is concerned NN can do no wrong!  Ha!

Though I am not his favorite, his little smile still melts my heart.

NN and his mini me!

So why did I label this post Cheese you ask?  Well about 4 days before we were set to welcome our second little one we were asked to appear in a commercial for the dealership where we bought my car.  Neither of us were really certain what to think about it all, but it was a very unique experience.  When we got there I gave very firm instructions that I only wanted to be filmed from waist up!  I didn't realize how much of the commercial we would actually be in, and yes that is actually my ride that I get out of in the service area.  For some reason they were unwilling to let me drive one of the expensive cars into service!  You can check out the commercial by clicking on the link below labeled Audi Central Houston, and yes it is total cheese!

Audi Central Houston

A Hoppin Good Time

 Our Easter weekends seem to be crazy now that we have the Little Popes.  Here is our fun-filled weekend in pictures!

We started out with a an egg hunt at Paw Paw and Cici's house.

We are still perfecting his egg hunting skills, and maybe I should have bought him a lighter egg hunting basket.

Success!  His cousin Korbin helped with the rest of the hunt because Little Pope decided he was done with it all.

My guess is that Little Pope is running his mouth endlessly in true Pope form to the Nutrition Nazi and his uncle.  I am sure the Pope side considers this a genetic gift while the rest of the free world could use a little less chatter some days.

My father-in-law holding the newest Little Popes.  On the left is my nephew born 10 days before Camo!  He is a solid little one!

We attempted to herd wet cats in this pic, and we are actually missing the oldest grandchild!

Take two of about ten pics!  Of course my child is always the least cooperative.

I was amazed, though, because he hung around for a solo pic with my step mother-in-law.

Our next stop was the great grandparents.  Little Pope made himself at home quickly.  Good thing George wasn't going anywhere because Little Pope entertained himself with his walker!

Granny holding one of her favorite people in the whole world.

Perfecting his I-didn't-do-it look!

Camo on Easter morning sporting his matching onesie to his big brother's shirt!

This is my favorite pic of the whole weekend.  It is our life perfectly captured - pure chaos - I love it!

On to the Easter egg hunt.  The Team Leader is always the most excited!

She still needs a little help, though, but that is what the Nutrition Nazi is there for!

 She even brought the enthusiasm to Little Pope's egg hunt at our house.

Again NN serves as the helper and also Camo holder!

And one last stretch and Easter comes to a close until next year!

Managing Chaos

I can't believe it has been almost a month since my last post, but then the title of this post is Managing Chaos it should not be breaking news.  It seems over the past month one or both of my children has been sick or had some ailment requiring a trip to the doctor.  I feel like there should be some type of rewards program at my pediatrician's office as much as I am there!  So here is what we have been doing over the past month.

Lots of naps of for this sweet baby!

Curiosity about Camo has finally struck Little Pope.

Some serious supervision is now necessary to avoid potential disasters.

Poor Camo.  Someone is always taking his blanket.  The swaddle blankets have to be closely guarded!

Curiosity about the baby's things has also set in.  Here Little Pope is in Camo's sleep box with a swaddle blanket.  He uses it like a lounge chair if I turn my back for too long.  FYI a sleep box is a safe way to have your baby sleep in bed with you at night.

We finally got around to taking pics under Camo's banner!

The only chance for a workout right now!

Little Pope is really joined at the hip with NN right now so he had to be in his picture.  Notice I did not say anything about cooperating with the photographer because clearly that is not where I would have ideally had him stand.  Check out NN's new work wardrobe.

Growing way too fast!

Camo's reaction to my busted bracket is priceless.  Love March madness until my bracket falls apart!

And a huge thank you to Judy for this cute gift bag for Little Pope.  He loves the book, and the Team Leader REALLY wants the stuffed dog!

Camo's basket was so adorable.  You are so thoughtful Judy!

Deja Vu Roller Coaster - The Grand Finale

I debated for several days about how to approach this post, and in the end decided that honesty is always the best policy.   A blog, by definition, is an online journal, and journals are where you can freely state your thoughts.  Though the ending is a happy one, this post comes with a very different side of my life, which includes rare glimpses into a difficult few days.

Before I began we are happy to announce that our beautiful second son was born at 9:20 am on Friday, February 21st, weighing 6 lbs and 11 oz, and stretching 19 inches long.  Welcome, with love, Cameron James.

Now I know some of you are searching your memory right now to figure out why these pics seem familiar.  Well as many of you know our oldest son, Little Pope, was born at 33 weeks due to preeclampsia, and spent 3 weeks in the NICU getting healthy enough to come home.  When I blogged about his arrival the posts included many of these same pics.  The day he came home was one of the happiest days of my life.  We were so thankful for the wonderful care he received and said good-bye to the wonderful NICU staff, or so we thought.

With my second pregnancy there was so much more monitoring to make sure that the previous issues were headed off, including seeing a perinatal specialist.  In January it was discovered that the baby had low amniotic fluid, and it continued to decrease until delivery.  At my last appointment I was told that the baby had a 1% chance of any breathing issues by the perinatal specialist, and my OB told me that they were not having the neonatology group attend the delivery because they were hoping for a normal delivery.

So Friday comes and we are so excited to meet our new little one.  Everything seems to be going really well and I was super excited to get to hold Cameron.  I wasn't sure how long it would take because Brady's delivery was not normal.  The Nutrition Nazi was going between the baby and myself giving updates, and then about twenty minutes in I heard the words that broke my heart.  My OB had been giving direction on how to help the baby because he was having some breathing issues, but when she asked the nurses to call the neonatologists my heart sank.  Though everyone assured me the neonatologists were just going to try and suction him a little deeper and they would only have him for a few hours, I knew better.  Unfortunately I, as well as our family, had been here before.

I was basically inconsolable for the next couple of hours because I knew the battle that lie ahead in getting him home, and honestly did not want to re-live the experience, especially with a toddler at home.  A few months ago I promised myself if I had to face the NICU ever again that I would be a force to be reckoned with, and I spent the days after Cameron's arrival making sure that everyone in the NICU was working for my son and not just going through the motions of their job each day. Cameron spent six days in the NICU while he worked on getting the excess fluid off of his lungs and learning to feed.

I am not sure how many people go through the NICU more than once, but it is definitely a club I could have skipped joining.

We did, however, get a chance to re-connect with some of Little Pope's nurses.  He apparently left an impression judging by the number of people that remembered him.  Cameron was fortunate enough to have Tanya as his primary nurse as well, which was a ray of sunshine at a very difficult time.

Little Pope was excited when we finally did get to bring Cameron home.

We will see if he still feels this way in a few months!

The family could not be happier that the Littlest Pope is home and doing well!

Like I said in the beginning the ending was ultimately happy, but the journey was not as smooth as we had hoped.  We find closure in knowing that we will never be faced with the NICU again since Cameron is lovingly referred to as our Grand Finale. We feel very blessed to have our sweet little one home and thriving.  All's well that ends well.