Interview with My Children

I stole this idea from a friend of mine who did it on her blog. I thought this was adorable! I selected a series of questions, some of which I stole from my friend and others just seemed natural to the conversation. I interviewed each boy separately and they were so sweet and cute in their answers. Some of them were especially funny. Enjoy!

Interview with John
My full name is: John Daryl Stevenson
I am: 6.5, about to turn 7 years old.
I am in: first grade.
My hair is: brown-ish.
My eyes are: brown
Favorite color: green
Favorite season: Fall
Why? Because I like all the stuff that we do in Fall like eating pumpkin seeds and stuff.
Favorite toy? Legos
Why? Because I like to build stuff.
Favorite friends? That's a hard one. It's all my friends.
The thing I like best about the way I look is? My skin because it doesn't show my bones.
Favorite TV show? Dexter's Laboratory
The one thing I can do best is? create things
The one thing I wish I could do better is? fix things
When I grow up I'd like to be? An aeronautical engineer to design planes or space shuttles.
On thing that really scares me is? The dark
One thing that really makes me happy is? Seeing my family and getting new toys
If I could have any wish in the whole world, I would wish for? More Legos. A ginormous tub of them!

Interview with Matthew
My full name is: Matthew James Stevenson
I am: 4 years old
I am in: Pre-K
My hair is: blonde
My eyes are: blue
Favorite color? brown
Favorite season? Fall
Why? Because I like the pumpkin patch and the hay maze.
Favorite toy? A helicopter
Why? Because I like to fly big toys!
Favorite friends? John
The thing I like best about the way I look is? my eyes
Favorite TV show? Dexter's Laboratory
The one thing I can do best is? not crying
The one thing I wish I could do better is? building with Legos.
When I grow up I'd like to be? a sheriff
One thing that really scares me is? real skeletons
One thing that makes me happy is? When John hugs me.
If I could have any wish in the whole world, I would wish for? I want Santa Clause to give me a dump truck so I can play in the sand.

First Grade!!!

I can hardly believe my “baby” started first grade this year. I remember first grade. I attended Aledo Elementary in Aledo, TX, in Mrs. Vandergriff’s class, and sat next to an adorable little red-head named Stefanie Casey. That little red-head and myself became inseparable as kids and are still friends to this day. (That's 27 years for those of you doing the math.) We now have 5 1/2 kids between us. Oh my.

It amazes me to think that John is now forming friendships that quite possibly could follow him throughout life. He’s making memories that will last a lifetime. It’s hard to believe how far we have come from those first months of life and now he's only 12 years from venturing out into the world on his own. My hope is that when he looks back on his childhood, these years we are in now, that he will smile and remember them fondly. I want these to be magical, care-free days of discovery and imagination. I am so proud of him and his tender heart.

Happy Birthday to Matt... and Me

August fourth was Matthew's fourth birthday! He is such a little man now. He is joyful... when he wants to be... and sour when he wants to be. He has an amazing sense of humor and makes me laugh every day. He is our family's comic relief for sure. He loves sports and watching the "spaceball game" with Daddy. (That's baseball to you and me.) Matthew is looking forward to playing soccer this fall and can't wait to be part of a team. He is also excited about starting Pre-K in September. He is desperate to be a big boy like his brother.

Matthew has a special place in my heart since he would not be here at all if his brother Jordan had not died. I often think that Matthew is Jordan's gift to us because I simply can't imagine my life without this happy, giggling, energetic, life-loving cuddle bug in it.

Here are pictures of Matt's "party". We didn't have a party in the traditional sense because we still don't really know anyone here, but my sister and brother-in-law were in town that week, so they joined in the festivities.






August 14 was my birthday. I turned 34 this year. *Gasp!* My father was quick to point out that the average life span of a woman is 72, so at 34 I have lived nearly half my life. Nice. I remember the days when daddy was encouraging and supportive.... =)

My mother-in-law was in town visiting that week, so she helped the boys make me a red velvet cake (my favorite) with cream cheese frosting and decorated it with sliced red licorice. The boys insisted that my cake have a candle We didn't have a #3 so we used the #4 from Matt's cake, since I turned 34, and just imagined the 3. I was so sick from the pregnancy, I really didn't care.

James took us all out for Texas Roadhouse (my favorite) so I didn't have to cook! Yummy!

Time to Catch Up!

Baby Blues... or Pinks
Wanna know where I've been for the past month? Clearly it has not been in front of the computer blogging. B-E-D. That is where I have been. Oh, baby, have I been sick. Oh. My. Goodness. This pregnancy has been so physically challenging. Alright, so my friends who have had multiples are probably laughing hysterically at me right now and calling me all kinds of wussy names (sorry, Stef, I'm weak), but this has definitely been the most difficult pregnancy I have had. I have felt like warmed up poop most days and on days when I feel "better", I felt like luke-warm poop. The only thing that keeps me from reaching for the nearest vomit receptacle is laying horizontal. So horizontal I have been. My poor children have had to clothe themselves, get their own snacks, entertain themselves, etc. I literally cannot get out of bed without waves of nausea consuming me. Okay, I'm done with the complaining.... for now. =)

Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment and got the news that the baby's heart rate was only 130. Last time it was 154. The old wives tale says that anything under 150 is a boy and above 150 is probably a girl. My boys' heart rates were always in the low to mid 130s, so I was pretty disapponted. I was also informed that now I have to wait until 20 weeks to find out the gender when initially she told me I could find out at 18 which only added to my disappointment.

Fortunately, I have wonderful friends who encouraged me on Facebook and I felt a wee bit better by the end of the day. However, after all that disappointment, James decided that it would be a good idea for me to go ahead and take the Intelligender Test after all.
If you're not familiar with the test, it is basically a home urine test that has shown to be over 90% accurate in their clinical trials and 82% accurate in real world trials in determining the sex of the baby. Initially, I had decided not to take it because of the margin of error. I was afraid to get my hopes up. But after yesterday, I didn't figure there was much harm. According to the website, when false readings were given, they almost always indicated "boy" when the baby was actually a "girl". Apparently, it's difficult for the test to give you a "girl" reading unless you are actually having a girl. So this morning I took the test. The liquid turns green to brownish-green for a boy and yellow to dark orange for a girl. And my results:

GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The darker color on the bottom are the crystals that did not completely dissolve, which is normal.

So.... suffice it to say that while I will not be making any emotional investments based on this result, it does give me hope that Bubba is, in fact, Bubbette. Please keep praying for me. I cannot emphasize to you enough how important this is to me. It's all I've ever wanted for as long as I can remember. During my other pregnancies, I prayed for a healthy baby. Apparently, I needed to be a bit more specific for God, so this time I am praying for a healthy baby GIRL.

John's "Meet the Teacher" Day
Yesterday, John went to meet his new first-grade teacher. He starts school on Monday. Since this is another new school, he was a little apprehensive, but he ended up really liking his new teacher. She was very sweet and John seemed to take to her. He liked his classroom and was proud of his new desk. Here are a few pictures...









Matt's Four Year Portraits
Last week, I took Matthew to get his four-year-old portraits done at Portrait Innovations (my favorite studio) and he did a great job! He looked so handsome and grown-up to me. One of the things I love about Portrait Innovations is that they take at least 60 poses and then they give you a CD of all the poses they take, not just the ones you purchase. Here is a sampling of Matt's photo shoot. Isn't he adorable?!?