The life of a Freeman boy….

Many boo-boos and lots of dancing

 

Noah’s Iron Man Dance:

Itsy Bitsy Freeman

Today I had my 20 week check-up – even though I am 21 weeks and counting.

And tonight the boys named their new sibling….the name is……

“Star Wars!!”  Does that surprise any of you? Should be an interesting life for the new little one. We were sitting at the dinner table and Noah was just talking on and on about how he was going to feed the baby cake when he/she is hungry, how he is going to get mommy diapers when needed, and so on. Elijah said that when the baby spits up, he will be the first to get a towel for mommy – and that mommy’s boys will be sure to take care of her and the new baby. Their eyes were just lighting up talking about it, their excitement just gleaming through – Elijah melted my heart when he spoke of taking care of me. I can’t wait to grow old having sons taking care of me – they will always be my babies and in my olden days, I will never have to worry about protection =)

Today’s appointment went fairly well. Baby looks super healthy and guess what we are having?????!!!!!!!! Haha – fooled ya – we won’t know until Birth Day =)  But sweet little one was constantly squished up against the placenta today and would not show his/her face – this is the best picture the Dr. could get – can you see the face and the little arm above?

Below is a photo of the spine and little leg in the bottom right. Super crazy looking.

I am having some problems with contractions and will have to be watched closely for pre-term labor along with the help of contraction stopping medications – but hopefully if I can keep my feet up, calm down a bit, no more laying sod =), and many messages…wait, sorry, I added that last one in hopes of it coming true…anyway, as much as I wanted a New Years Day baby ~ I am preparing myself for a Christmas Eve miracle, or even Thanksgiving miracle.

Good excuse to shop super early for Christmas!!! I wonder if next week is too early?! =) I LOVE the Holidays…

Free-Fabulous Summer

The boys and I are so anxiously awaiting cooler weather, cinnamon filled home, super yummy cookies, decorations, fun crafts – the  ‘family season’ where we all snuggle in front of the fire and talk  about how much we want to love and squeeze each other. My boys are so excited that they watched their Casper Ghost movie today in anticipation for Halloween. Elijah is already guessing which house is going to have the best candy bars this Halloween!! =)

I think that I am starting my ‘nesting phase’ because I am noticing areas in my home that need to feel more ‘homey’ and cozy and I am trying to slowly but surely make our house into more of a sweet home where we can all escape to, snuggle, and grow old in with super memories engraved into my babies minds and hearts.

So to get ready for our magical season of family love coming up, I emptied my camera today to make room for more photos and found some glorious memories from this summer. I can’t wait for more memories and experiences to enlighten us, it is definitely going to be the season for life changing events for our little family. What a great Christmas gift my boys are going to be blessed with =) they can’t wait for baby to be here.

Here are a few of the great memories made in the past few months:

Park Fun and Creek Hiking:

Ohhhh, Monkey Joe’s was the highlight of our August. My children stayed here for 4 1/2 hours – hours of PURE fun!!! They could have stayed longer if their bodies didn’t turn into a zombie state. Can you see Noah on the slide below going ‘Super Hero Fast’?! :

We just love Fernbank Science Center! So cool and such a great learning tool for my little Science Fanatic (or mini-Paul):

my baby making a wish:

 

Comparing to a t-rex footprint =)

My ‘weather-boys’ doing the weather on screen:

I just love photos =) what a great way to hold on to these memories forever!!! My babies are growing so fast and I have a feeling that I will notice that so much more once the new, really little bundle arrives – they will look HUGE to me!!

“What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent, unspeakable memories.”  ~George Eliot

Crafty Tot Thursday for Baby!!!!

The boys are just ecstatic about the new baby’s arrival and they have been very adamant on helping mommy ‘re-do’ the new nursery. I LOVE their help and can’t wait to get their little handprints on the wall once it’s ready. But for now, we are just making little projects for the room until mommy can get her chubby little hiney in there to finish the painting.

So today we made some cute little stained glass pictures to spruce up the windows and bring in some great color!!

What we used:

• wax paper
• crayon shavings
• iron
• scissors

First I shaved the crayons, then drew what picture we wanted to fill in on the wax paper.

Then I let the little hands fill the picture full of crayon shavings.

 

Next we covered the picture with more wax paper, put a paper town on top to protect our iron, and ironed the crayons until they melted.

After the crayons are melted and cool, I cut around our shape with scissors then hot glued string on the back to use to hang.

And yippeee!!! I hope if we have a boy, he like butterflies and dragonflies =)

 

I think it would have probably worked out a little bit better if we would have used less crayons and just spread them out a little more. But we will be trying more! So cute!

Crafty Tot Tuesday

Ok – so I had a completely different craft on the schedule for today but somehow my sweet little boys talked me into going ahead and getting a little crazy and messy. So we broke out the shaving cream instead and did just that!!

This is one of the crafts I sent along on the camping trip for our special friends this weekend, it is great for texture play and they loved it. So did my boys!

Shaving cream, that is all it is. For the younger ones, whipped cream can be used if you are worried about it making it in the mouth, but I am guessing that it would be a lot stickier. You can also add food coloring which is super fun and allow them to mix different colors to experiment with color change, etc…

 

and what would a good shaving cream day be without a lovely shower in the sprinkler?…

And We’re Off…

…and that is just half of the gear –

Caglewood is off for our Rafting Trip of 2010 down the Nantahala River in North Carolina!!! Let our fun weekend begin!! Our campers love the extremeness of this trip, as do our counselors.

I am so very happy to get our house back, our garage back after 2 weekends of camping and a LOT of gear, packing and unpacking, I need things to slow down. These trips wear me out a lot more these days than they used to before I was pregnant and had kids. A lot of planning, a lot of conversing with parents, a lot of reservations, a lot of shopping, a lot of lists, and a lot more than that =) Of course I love every minute of it, but it is very tiring.

To celebrate no more planning and craziness for a few days, the boys and I took off tonight to our most favorite tree in Flowery Branch and ran for a solid HOUR. I was worn out just watching them from the little ‘mama bench’ -  but was able to snap a few photos with my phone.

Some tree lovin’…

 

and some hopscotch playin’…

and super hero runnin’….

trying to stop and smell the roses…

My Baby is a Growin…

Warning…Long post with lots of pictures =)

3 years ago yesterday, my baby boy blessed us with his sweet presence. And oh what a sweet presence it is. Such a sweet and loving soul. He loves his family and loves his momma =)

What an amazing birth it was – scheduled c-section and it went so smoothly. I remember it like it was yesterday. My nerves were crazy and I was an absolute mess, but with such a great and supportive husband, I made it through just fine. I had to be put under for Elijah’s birth for many medical, scary reasons – therefore, I didn’t get to witness Elijah’s first cry. So getting to witness Noah’s first breaths was such a sweet moment and a precious gift.

Yesterday, 3 years ago was life changing (yet again). I was super scared, nervous, and so worried that I wouldn’t be able to give Elijah the one on one time anymore that I so desperately cherished the last few weeks of my pregnancy with Noah. Until the day before the birth when Paul said to me “Jessica, we are giving Eli the best gift he could ever receive, a brother”  I had not looked at it that way before and now, seeing them together, he was right. They love each other dearly (even though they don’t always show it) and they are, and will be such great friends.

Recovery was rough – the first evening my surgical epidural slipped out (no one knew) and I was feeling all of the pain from my surgery, ‘wow’ is all I can say about that pain. It took about 10 hours for the anesthesiologist to finally decide to check the epidural line and lo and behold, it was sitting on my back with all the meds just dripping down my back and onto the bed. After I received pain meds, I was one happy mamma and had my baby in my arms once again. He was so sweet and loving from day one.

My sweet baby boy is growing before my eyes and I see his boyishness coming out more and more every day.

He is such a little homebody and loves his family so much. He and his brother are complete opposites and I love seeing the differences in them every day. I am learning a whole new style of parenting with Noah, I feel like I am a first time mommy again. His brother is his hero and he tells him every single day “Eli, you are my best friend’ and it just melts my heart. I catch myself constantly staring at him up close and just wanting to squeeze him, kiss him, and tell him how much I love him and his little features.

I can’t wait to see what he is going to offer this world. My baby has blessed me with 3 amazing years and I hope I am blessed enough to have 70 more with him.

I love you so, my Noah baby!!

Below are pictures of our birthday weekend at Cloudland Canyon. We met some great people and had some wonderful family time. Even though it stormed a couple of times, our tents kept us safe and dry.

This is how we felt all weekend: (relaxed and tired)

Can you see us in the distance on the other side of this canyon:

 

The gift at the end of this hike was absolutely beautiful:

 

Baby Freeman loved it too:

Noah ran everywhere he went when we were hiking. I couldn’t tell if he was super excited, or just super competitive wanting to be the first one to wherever we were going:

Amazing rocks here – can you see us in the pics below:

For those of you that don’t know, this is an Iron Man cake…hehe

This was our tent pizza party during a horrible downpour on Saturday – we had so much fun, even though Elijah’s fake smile doesn’t say it: 

 

What an amazing weekend! I will never forget these precious moments with my sweet family – these are the moments I live for, long for, and cherish with my whole being.