My Ladies Lunch

I am thrilled with the weather we have been having. Darrin calls it "teaser weather" because he doesn't think it will last. I on the other hand am more optimistic. I am taking full advantage of it. My lady's lunch bunch decided to have a picnic to take this opportunity to soak up the sun. Eden brought her phone along, apparently we weren't enough, she wanted to invite more! Our first picnic of the season, there will be many more, I have no doubt.

First race of 2009

Darrin has big plans for this year, which includes lots of running. So the first race of the year was today. It was a 10k which is 6 miles. We were fortunate enough to show up right as he was running by us, so I got a quick shot of him running.

As I was sitting at home (while he went and registered) I found a friends blog where she happened to be talking about running. As I read her experiences I missed running so bad. The thought of running down and registering for the 5k crossed my mind, till I realized 2 things. 1-who would watch the girls, and 2 - I haven't ran more then 2 miles since the 1/2 marathon. So I will be patient and wait till that season rolls around again for me. It didn't help though when Darrin finished and said he misses running me with.

So good luck Darrin with your upcoming events, the girls and I will be your biggest fans!

P.S. Darrin has a schedule that is he is willing to share with anyone who would like to join him.

My little "La - La"

The first few times I heard Eden say "La-la" I thought nothing of it. Then I started noticing a pattern and quickly realized she was trying to communicate with me. It was always said when holding a princess, whether it be a barbie or a movie of a princess. So I figured out "la-la" was a short and condensed version of Cinderella. Well her word has evolved to mean more things. She still follows a pattern but is not just princesses (maybe it never was from the beginning) but it now means any dress. The morning of her birthday (which was on Monday) I asked her what she wanted to wear and she ran to closet shouting "La-La!" Not just any la-la would do though, it had to be fancy, rightfully so, she was two now!

We had a great family celebration, but more than that our life has been so blessed to have her. She is spirited by which I mean, loud, funny & definitely defiant! She has brought a continual JOY to our lives.

To my Eden,

I am so glad you picked us, to be your family!

- Love Mom

Just one of those great days!

Our Valentine's day was just a great day. It started with a little trip to see some friends. Their town had a "Family Fun Day" that was completely FREE! It was an arena filled with bump n' jumps, horse rides, food, and more!

The first thing we did were the horse rides. I didn't realize how small Eden was until I saw the pictures of her on the HUGE horse, but she loved it.

Jaya spent the rest of the time in line for face painting. I really have issues with face painting booths. The kids seem to make a bee line for them every time and they are ALWAYS the longest waiting time. This was no different. After Jaya stood in line for 1 hour (no exaggeration) she finally got her beautiful designs (not sure what else to call it). I did start a new family rule though, and that is: No more face painting booths. I will buy face paints and do them at home. After I told Jaya this, she insisted on knowing if I had any background in face painting. I told her I would learn. So anyone that would like to bring their children over for face painting at my house is welcome, it may just save you some time.

While Jaya was waiting, it gave Baylie and I some time to go to some bump n' jumps, which I was so proud of her, because she can really use Jaya for a crutch, but she did great, she went and did all the stuff by herself. There was some line waiting, but we handled it just fine.

Darrin even got to show his creative side, as he made the paper flower that's in the picture.

Just as we were leaving, we happened to see that Tigger had arrived and ran over to give some hugs. Eden's reaction was the best. She was so not having any of that!

When we got home I scrambled around getting the preparations for "The Case's Crazy Cafe" ready. My friend gave me this idea. Where you do different courses and the "guests" pick a few things from each course, the trick is everything is disguised. I printed a menu with random pictures, the kids (and Darrin) circled what they thought they wanted. Course 1 was probably the funniest, because Eden and Darrin ended up with no plate. Yep, that's right, their food was served right on the tablecloth. Course 2 Eden and Baylie ended up with noodles and cheese but no sauce (for spaghetti) I think they were in hog heaven. They are often requesting no sauce and this time I said okay. Everyone had such a fun time, and it has been requested for each meal since. I am definitely adding this to the Case Family traditions.

A Mother's Intuition

You know how some moms just know what they are having. They know from the beginning and they know it way down deep? Well I am NOT that mother. As I posted yesterday I really thought it was going to be a girl. But after a VERY revealing ultrasound we found out the Case name will be living on...we are having a boy!!!

I have changed my page layout to the very appropriate blue that will now be adorning our closets. I told a friend today the news and her response was "Now you have to get all new stuff." I told her, I am more then ready to get all new stuff, after three girls, each wearing Jaya's clothing I am so ready for this new step!
A few of my friends wanted to know Darrin's reaction when he found out. Darrin actually saw the revealing parts first (remember I am a mother of girls, I can't say the real word yet) and so when the doctor confirmed he said "Now I get to go on father & son's camp outs!" In other words he is so excited.

We are both still in quite a bit of shock, for those of you with mixed gender families you may not be able to relate, but we feel like our whole world will change this coming July. Maybe not right away, but when you have all girls, all of your thoughts, decisions, and future goals revolve around what that means, how to get them through dating, emotions, and give them self-confidence, one gender made it a lot easier to focus. Now I get to think more seriously about having a boy which means, I have to figure out how to raise a gentlemen, encourage him to go on a mission someday and keep the sisters from being too much of a mother! One huge plus is at least this is one less wedding we will have to pay for.
We are THRILLED!!!

I've taken all the tests.

Our ultrasound is tomorrow. I have been containing my excitement for weeks, but I finally decided that I could let loose today, I can handle one day of complete impatience! So with my impatient self, I went ahead and did some pre-test predictions and these were the results.

I found a site that is based on Old Wives tales to predict the gender of your baby, here were the results:

Your score is 40%. Congratulations! According to the Old Wives it's a girl!

Then I found my much more reliable source the old Chinese calendar. This one really through me through a loop. I am not sure the EXACT day I concieved, and so the first result is based on the 8th, which is what they said based on my due date, and here were the results:

Conception Date: October 8, 2008
Mother's Age at Conception: 28
The calendar predicts: Boy

But if you notice, (not that any of you did) my birthday is on the 9th, and then I am no longer 28, so I decided to see what would happen if I changed the conception date to the 9th (because who knows when it really happened) and since I am a whole year older now, it changed the gender, check it out:

Conception Date: October 9, 2008
Mother's Age at Conception: 29
The calendar predicts: Girl

The best part was this little disclaimer they added (like anyone would really sue over this)
IMPORTANT: Beware that the date of conception is near a gender change-over so the prediction may be less reliable.

What this tells me is that I really do have to wait till tomorrow, and the impatience has completely set it, and is making me so anxious.

So what do I think it is? I would have to say a GIRL. I would be pretty shocked if it turned out to be a boy, I am beginning to wonder if all the boys out there aren't really just a figment of their mothers' imaginations. Do boys really exist? For me so far they haven't. I guess we will see if things are going to change around here...TO BE CONTINUED

Overwhelmed and under-blogging

Since it's been so long that I have blogged, I feel completely overwhelmed. Where do I start? What do I say? So much, but so little has happened at the same time. So here goes my attempt to get back...
December - Was a complete blur and STRESS. With photo shoot after photo shoot, I kept thinking I should be almost done, and then there would be more. I did manage to finish the week before Christmas, just in time to have family come and visit. Which was so great, but all the stress did cause me to go into total rebellion.
January - What was I rebelling from? TECHNOLOGY! I seriously couldn't even look at my computer without disgust and most days it wasn't even turned on (this was a serious rebellion) I also stopped answering the phone, when I could. No more playdates, phone calls, just me and the girls. I wish I could say that we did great stuff, and have tons of pictures from all the neat stuff we did but, I had also added my camera to my banned list, plus I don't know if there was a lot of fun going on anyway. So before you get depressed or worried about me, I think it was good I went through all this, because I started cleaning more, and really tried to figure out my priorities. I decided I can't do everything and I don't have to. I am learning and hopefully getting closer to figuring out when enough is enough for me.
February - I feel great now, I am now talking on the phone, seeing my friends (a little more), and I have turned on the computer, I have even edited a few photo shoots of my own children! So in other words...I'm back!