Happy Easter...plus

It's an understatement to say it's been a while since I've last posted an update. Therefore, we have LOTS to share and catch you up on! First, Happy Easter from me and my boys!



We'll start from today and go backwards. So first, Robert's parents have been here visiting for the week. Bo was SOOOO excited when they arrived, and was running around and talking very fast. He gave them hugs and immediately wanted them to "play trains" with him. All this was very encouraging b/c we didn't get to see them a lot last year and you never know if your child is going to remember people they haven't seen in a while. We try to do a good job of praying for all our family and looking at pictures to help bridge the distance gap. Thankfully, they will be back soon after the baby arrives, so this span of time apart will be short.



A huge plus to having them here has been the HUGE HELP they have been! I don't think I washed a single dish the entire week!! And Bo has gotten lots of attention and had two great playmates to play with and who kept him entertained. Many, many THANKS to Grammy and Granddaddy! We love you!



A few updates on Bo...We moved him, over Spring Break, into a new room and put him into a big boy bed. We took him to Target to pick out some sheets and of course, his first choice was Thomas the Train. He is in a bigger room, so all of his toys, including his trains, are in his room, instead of littering our den...of which, both Robert and I are very thankful.







Here are a few pics from an outside photo shoot that Robert did with Bo. My baby is not a baby anymore!





This is Bo's way of saying "cheese" but being totally uninterested in posing for pictures.


Updates on me and the baby. Here are a couple of pics of two new purses I purchased. I am moving up in the world of fashionable accessories!!





Here's the latest pic of baby boy #2 - who remains nameless! We are having such a hard time with this one. We will definitely let everyone know when we get it figured out! This is at 28 weeks. As of April 13th, I am 30 weeks! WooHoo - really only 9 more, due to C-section a week early! Let the count down begin. Although, this pregnancy has really flown by! I can't wait to meet our little man!





Whew! I think that's all for now! If you've stuck with us this far, thanks!

Ultrasound Update...

Sorry to keep everyone waiting...again. I forgot that I posted about not knowing the health of the baby. Preggo brain.

Everything is fine with baby boy #2. I just wish they wouldn't be so nonchalant about it. I'm waiting anxiously to hear if this baby is healthy or not, and they don't even mention it when I go in for my appointment! I have to ask! And the answer is, "Oh, everything's fine." But, I guess they see a hundred ultrasound reports a day and to them it's just another report, not someone's baby they're worried about.

I couldn't scan the ultrasound pictures. For some reason, the scanner isn't working. Maybe I will take some digital pics of them and see how they turn out.

No other news on the Sanders home front. Except for having a head full of snot - Enter the pregnancy congestion! Plus, sharing everything with what seems like a constantly snotty 2 year old.

Snips and snails and puppy dogs' tails...

We had our ultrasound yesterday....and IT'S A BOY!! He wasn't very cooperative at first b/c he had his back turned to us. But after a little coaxing from Robert and the tech, he turned and we were able to see his parts. After that, the tech wanted a face shot, but this time he wouldn't keep still! I told Robert and the tech that he was complaining about them being indecisive. The pictures we received aren't very good. There's one that looks scary - I call it the gremlin shot b/c it looks like he's wrinkling his nose and has really sharp teeth. Not the picture you want of your unborn child....too many movies with humans birthing aliens.

The only disappointing thing is that the ultrasound tech was not legally allowed to tell us any information regarding the health of the baby, whether good or bad. She does the ultrasound, then sends the information to a separate office that interprets the info and writes up a report, which then gets sent to the doctor. So I was a little disappointed leaving the appointment and slightly anxious to have to wait on those results. I am going to put in a call to the doctor's office to see if when they might possibly have the report. I have a doctor's appointment next Wednesday, but I would love not to have to wait that long. But, another opportunity to trust the Lord, surrender my desires to Him and to trust that His plan is perfect and good for us. Pray that I won't be anxious during this waiting period and continue to pray for a healthy baby boy!

I'll try to post the pics later...check back if you're interested in the "gremlin" shot. : )

And we don't have a name picked out yet. So don't ask.

Trying to get back to my A-Game...

So, it's been a little more than a week since we returned home from our Christmas travels. I was not on, what I like to call, my A-game before Christmas and I surely have not gotten it back quickly after Christmas. This includes having the house cleaned up, dishes washed (especially this one), keeping in touch with old friends and being intentional and proactive with new ones. I'll blame it partly on the pregnancy, partly on recovering from our Christmas trip, and partly on staying up too late. Thankfully, Robert jumped in to help with the many, many dishes today, I have done almost all of our laundry, put up our Christmas decorations, vacuumed a little, and saw friends at the library and at a playdate. So, that's a good start. Hopefully, I will continue to pick up momentum and be back on my A-game shortly!


For those interested in the details of our Christmas journeys, here's a quick rundown. Please feel free to skip this part if this is of no interest to you. No hurt feelings.

Dec. 19th - Finally get on the road about 5:30 PM. Arrive in TEXARKANA to spend the night in a hotel. Driving time - 6 hours.

Dec. 20th - Drive to MEMPHIS. Arrive around 3:30 PM. Driving time - 4 hours. Stay at Andy's house, our good friend and fantastic host! Visit with friends. Go to church. Have some good ol' Memphis BBQ at my favorite place, the Germantown Commissary.

**I wish we could have eaten at all of our favorite Memphis restaurants - Bryant's, Ching's Wings, the Chinese Sub Shop and more.

Dec. 22nd - get new tires put on the car in Memphis (b/c Robert found a great deal, not b/c of any bad issues, thankfully), and drive to FRANKLIN, TN. - Driving time - 3.5 hours. Visit with friends, eat a delicious meal, spend the night with our gracious and welcoming hosts.

Dec. 23rd - Enjoy a great breakfast with friends and hit the road for LUGOFF, SC. Driving time - 7.5 hours. (While driving near Chattanooga, see a sheet of ice fly off of the top of an 18-wheeler and smash into the windshield of the car in front of us...no damage done, thankfully, and really cool and kinda scary at the same time!)

Visit with family and friends, go to Christmas Eve service and church, eat some good Mama's cooking, enjoy opening presents with family and celebrating Jesus' birthday, and memorize the many moments of "Hey, Grandad!", "Hey, G.G.!", "Grandad/G.G., come to my room and play!"

Dec. 30th - Hit the road for the long trip back to Texas...first, stopping outside of ATLANTA, to visit with Robert's brother and his awesome family. Keep trucking to MONTGOMERY, AL where we spend the night in a hotel. Driving time - 6 hours.

Dec. 31st - Spend New Year's Eve driving home to TEXAS. Driving time - 10 hours.

Jan. 1st - Spend all day recovering from LAFIR - also known as "Losing All Feeling In the Rearend."

I have no Christmas pictures, b/c they are all on my parents' cameras. But here are a few from our camera.

I decided to make a graham cracker/icing house instead of buy the gingerbread house kits (we'll reconsider this decision next year!) to do with Bo. It ended up being more work than I originally had planned, and Bo wasn't much help as he was more interested in eating the icing and graham crackers, than helping to put it together...imagine that. So the work fell to me, and then to Robert. And being the artist that he is, our graham cracker "house", turned out to look more like a "church". And I LOVED it! Too bad it took so long that Bo had to go to bed before we could decorate it with all the candies I bought. So, this season, we made "The Sanders' First Ever Graham Cracker and White Icing Church".



This is Bo riding the train at the mall.


This is Bo riding the boat with Tigger in Toys 'R Us. Is there a trend here?


He's getting so big! He's not a baby anymore!


This is Bo's present to us that he made in his class at CDO. If you can't tell, it's a wreath with berries. The berries are fingerprints. So cute!



This is another craft that the teacher of Bo's CDO class put together for us. I think it's stinkin' adorable.

This is a close-up of the picture - Bo looking down at Baby Jesus in the manger.


Robert showed me how to take some cool night shots. This is on our drive thru Atlanta. I like it b/c the lights look like musical notes floating in the air.

For Moms...

I came across this video and had to share it. If you are an old mom, new mom or just have or have had a mom, you'll appreciate this!

And thank you, Mom, for everything. You're awesome.

Locked Out of the House

So here's the story of getting locked out of the house.

I had found a new recipe for pancakes (oatmeal pancakes) the night before. I was so excited about making them, I dumped all the ingredients in the food processor and when I got to the end of the recipe, I realized I was missing eggs - a very essential ingredient. So, I ran over to the neighbor's house (in my pajama pants), telling Bo to stay put and pulling the door behind me. They gave me my ONE essential egg and I went back to the house to finish my recipe, only to find the door locked! I have no phone, no keys and don't know anyone's number besides Robert's cell, which he doesn't keep on b/c he's at school!!!

Bo was inside calling my name. Since he was at the door, I tried to explain to him how to unlock the door (that has no windows - so I couldn't see him and he couldn't see me), to no avail. I normally keep my keys in the same place, so I told Bo to go get my keys. There used to be a pretty big gap underneath part of the door, so I figured he could get my keys and possibly slide them through the gap and I could unlock the door. So off he goes to find my keys. After a little bit, I hear him playing. I ask, "Did you find mommy's keys?" To which he answers, "No." And he no longer wants to come to the door.

What to do now??? First thought, break out a window in the front room. Or go to the neighbor's to see what they say about the situation. Second thought, Robert would not be happy with a broken window, especially in the front of the house, where someone could easily break in during the time we are waiting to get it fixed...and it costs money...very important factor. Third, jump the wooden fence (since we keep it deadbolted) into the back yard and break out a back window, where at least the broken window wouldn't be seen by potential burglars. Go to the fence, realize it is taller than I thought and there's no way I'm getting over it, especially being pregnant.

Fourth and finally, go to the other neighbors' house, who have four kids and ask for help. Praise the Lord for neighbors who are believers!!! They welcome me in, and ask how they can help, reassuring me it's no big deal, that they've locked their kids in the car, left them at home, etc. We get in touch with Robert and the neighbor volunteers to drive to his school to pick up our house key.

Returning to the house, I hear Bo crying and the neighbor coaxes him to the front window and tells him to pull up the blinds, so at least he can see me. He does this, and I see the reason for his crying - not being able to get his pajama top off, which reassures me b/c it means he's not freaking out about being locked in the house by himself. We try to get him to unlock the window, but he's just holding the blind cord, staring out at us.

The key arrives and I am back in the house about an hour after I was locked out. I still have my precious egg, tucked away in the pocket of my sweatshirt. Boy, were those pancakes delicious. I spent the rest of the day recovering from this memory-making episode. It totally threw me off the rest of the day and I felt exhausted. But those pancakes sure were good. I'll just take my keys next time I go to borrow some eggs.

Update on Thanksgiving

Here are a few highlights, lowlights and things to be thankful for (and not so thankful for) from our Thanksgiving trip...

We started off with a bang...or more like a BARF! Yeah, Bo threw up on the airplane as we were descending. I think it was a combination of too much juice, getting too hot and the plane descending pretty quickly. There were some other passengers complaining of back aches and nausea as we deplaned. I don't think Bo's little body could handle it.

- I am not thankful for the flight attendant who had NO IDEA what to do about the throw up. REALLY?!?!? Has no one ever barfed on your plane before? She asked US what we needed. Uhhhhh, maybe some plastic bags and some napkins. So, genius that she is, returns with 2 plastic bags and TWO NAPKINS! SERIOUSLY. This is not just a little baby spit up. This is at least two sippy cups worth of water/juice with some french fries mixed in (sorry for the graphic details). TWO NAPKINS. Not really helpful.

- I am not thankful for the other flight attendant who didn't think to ask everyone to remain seated while we got the sick kid off the plane. No. Just wait like everyone else while mom and toddler smell like vomit. Thanks. She also asked US if she needed to call someone to come onto the plane to clean it up. No, lady, I'm sure your next passengers will love the smell of vomit in their seat and in the aisle. Tell them you're trying out a new air freshener and ask them for their comments.

- I AM thankful that Bo threw up on the descent, so it wasn't long that we were in the plane after the episode.

- I AM thankful that most of the throw up landed in the aisle.

- I AM thankful for other passengers who were very compassionate and helped by gathering napkins to pass to us.

- I AM thankful that we received NO dirty looks from other passengers! Everyone must have been in the Thanksgiving spirit - and were thankful they were not us!

We spent a great day on Saturday at Robert's grandmother's house to have an early Thanksgiving celebration. There were an aunt, uncle, cousin and his wife and daughter, brother and his wife and 2 daughters, another cousin's daughter, mom, dad and grandmother, and us.

- I AM thankful that nobody was stuck in the kitchen cooking and unable to hang out - thanks to Chik-fil-A and KFC!

- I AM thankful for relatives who LOVE Jesus and always have wise and kind words to share with a younger generation of parents.

Our time with Robert's parents was great. Church, a Thanksgiving service, a little shopping, and a night out to visit with his brother and awesome wife, and a visit from a friend of ours - Robert's partner in Mexico.

- I AM thankful for my mother-in-law who got up with Bo EVERY morning of our visit, so we could sleep in!! She also fed him breakfast and changed multiple dirty diapers! THANKS SO MUCH, Vineta!!

- I AM thankful for lots of toys at the grandparents' house that kept Bo enthralled, so we really didn't have to entertain him.

- I AM thankful for friends of parents that love on my child through gifts and bringing over cool toys to play with! Y'all are awesome and we always LOVE seeing you, Jean and Wayne!


Next post: the day I got locked out of the house